Another dear friend of mine who is also an Empty Nester, wrote to me the other day and talked about how hard your heart hurts when; not only are you Empty Nesters but none of your kids or grandkids live near you. She mentioned that you just get up every day and just keep going, even though your heart is hurting. She also mentioned how grateful she is for the couple times a year she does get to see her grandkids and children.
I quickly realized that I need to just keep going, focus on the positive and most of all …count my blessings! Yes, life is tough but never so bad, that you can’t look elsewhere to see someone even worse off. We really do have lots to be grateful for. Thanks for all of you who have rallied around me and told me that I could do this, silly as that may seem…I needed it and it did help!
So today I kept sewing, Jeff and I went tubing with the kids (well before you get to excited…I just watched them go tubing and hung out with Jenny mostly ) and then we came home and had a Date Night, which we actually could do every night now if we wanted to. After tubing, we went to the store when Jeff saw my face getting sad, as I looked at just a few items in the cart, he said “ Just think of all the money we are saving, by only getting a few groceries! “ It made me smile, however I would much rather be pinching my pennies any day and buying a ton of food for the kids at home, but the point was … just be happy and grateful.
Point taken! Good night dear friends.
The girl in this photo must have been a True G.R.I.T.S. ( cause we G.irls R.aised I.n T.he S.outh are way more comfortable going barefoot).
I loved this quote and think it said it all… for tonight’s post!
I loved this article, a good reminder for me!
By Gretchen Rubin is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Happiness Project
We all know the feeling of being overwhelmed, of being beset by distractions.
The problem is, too many things are clamoring for your attention. People are trying to reach you, by phone, email, text, Twitter, IM, or old-fashioned yelling up the stairs. There are the interesting subjects you want to learn more about, on the TV or the Internet or the newspaper. Noises in the background occasionally catch your ear. Your kids all talk at the same time. Colleagues interrupt. You need to update, check in, post, or ping. Ads jump at you from the most unlikely places. Devices buzz, ring, chirp, and vibrate.
It’s enough to drive you crazy. You lose your train of thought; you forget what you’re doing; you have trouble re-engaging in a task; you feel besieged.
But there are steps you might consider to quiet the buzz in your brain – even if you don’t want to take up meditation."
1. Tune in and turn off
2. Remind yourself to Quiet your mind
3. Spend some one on one time with your kids ( you may have to split up to do this )
4.Cut down multi-tasking
5. Silence the ringer on your cell phone during this time
6.Curb errand- running
7. Pause the web ( so you won't keep jumping from link to link )
8. Step away from the email
9. So no to - numbers ( just for awhile, stop checking the clock, your scales and anything else with numbers )
10. Exercise
11. Flee temptations ( get away some where, so you are not tempted to take calls or check emails )
These are just a few suggestions to boost your sense of quiet focus, it really does work but is much harder to do than you would think. It takes practice, but is soooooooooo worth it!
"When we are present in each moment, the past gently rolls up
behind us and the future slowly unravels before us." ~ Rev Richard Levy
"The quieter you become the more you can hear." ~Unknown
