Friday, July 6, 2012

I can barely move! Learning some lessons from my kids.

          I am going on day two of  searing pain, every time I try to move achy muscles! I have decided that the "exercise" that keeps me the most motivated is a slip and slide! I honestly haven't been this sore . . . probably ever! I can not wait to post pictures of our fourth of July adventures. Part of the day my in-laws broke out a huge piece of plastic and the sprinkler. Luckily we live in an area that has secondary water, which we pay a monthly fee all year round--no matter how much we use. Behind my in-laws house is the school yard, with some nice hills. They put the plastic on a small decline and jimmy rigged a couple of metal hooks to hold it down. We played on it for hours! We actually had got it out on the previous Sat. and although I played in the water, I only went down the slide if my husband and bro-in-law grabbed my hands and threw me down. Although that was a lot of fun, I wanted to slide down on my own, like how I did years ago. I don't know why, but I hadn't thrown myself on the ground lately and for some reason, your body doesn't seem to remember how to do stuff like that.
          It took me several tries to figure out what would work best for me, but I did it! I followed the example of my two oldest boys, and learned a few things in the process. The first thing I had to do was to not care what I looked like. Did Turner or Max worry about what they looked like? Did they worry about form or if certain body parts were going to jiggle? Nope! So I couldn't either. I had to throw all care of looking silly out the window! The second thing I couldn't care about was making a mistake. If I was worried that I was going to flop myself down, only to go a foot or two, then I wouldn't be able to learn. When my boys are learning how to do something, I EXPECT them not to get it right the first time. Only because learning something new means making mistakes. The third thing I learned was that I couldn't be afraid of getting hurt. My boys were not afraid of getting hurt. Did they get hurt? We had a couple of scrapes and bruises. That is okay--the fun way out weighed the hurt . . . even now with my achy muscles. The fastest way to get hurt, is the be afraid of it. The most important lesson I learned, is that I had to expect that it was going to be a blast! Before I would go down the slip 'n slide, I would stand at the top and picture in my mind that I was sliding down, and that it was a blast. Guess what--what I pictured, was exactly what happened. 
         What if we get in this life, exactly what we most think about? Whether we think mostly about things we don't want to have happen, or things we do want to have happen. That doesn't matter. Someone very close to me told me once about her struggle with severe clinical depression. She told me that she had tried conventional help, but the only thing that truly helped was changing every bad thought into a positive one. She didn't allow her mind to think about negative things. Now before you think that this "cure" is simple. Changing a thought process can take a lot of practice and energy. But you are thinking about something anyway right? Might as well be something wonderful. That is what happened to me on Monday--I felt defeated, came to the computer to write a rant, and ended up walking out loving my life. Why? Because I chose to list the positive things about my life! Try it today--every time you feel something negative cross your mind, erase it, sing a song that makes you happy, Do something that is fun to you, or just anything that you find to make you happy!  If your looking for some ideas, head over to the Vocal Sokol . Her whole blog is dedicated to doing "pleasant things." I am sure you will find something that makes you happy!
**And keep your eye out for our 4th of July pictures--they are sure to bring a smile to your face!**

3 comments:

  1. So fun! We did that with Jared's family this year too. My cousins do it in Mesa once a year for a big FHE too but they have billboard vinyl signs that they use. I don't know how you did it but I know it helps to use baby shampoo to slide. Every once in a while we put it on at the top and sometimes some on your belly if you were having a hard time going down. I'm excited to see your pictures from the 4th!
    And thanks for the info about keeping our thoughts positive. I've had frustrating days lately and need to work on this. Reading your blog is one way to bring a smile to my face!

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  2. I love this happy analogy. I am in sore need of it today, I just pray that I can implement.

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