I had dated “unsuccessfully” for many years as I navigated single life. I had many relationships that broke up, and this frustrated me. Marriage was my ultimate goal when I was single, and it took me a long time to attain this. So, what would I have to offer to those who are in the midst of this life stage now? I wallowed in that thought for a while and felt somewhat defeated.
The Growing Parent: Anger & Negotiating
Clearly the parent is supposed to be in charge, and I’m not suggesting otherwise. In fact statistics even show us that well-defined boundaries result in the best outcome for raising children. However, both my clinical and personal experiences show that being willing to give a little sometimes can have a tremendous impact on your relationship with your children.
Nathan’s Story: Athletes & Suicide Prevention
Athletes can have a difficult time of transition because they spend their whole lives working toward a collegiate and professional career in their sport of choice. Every evening, weekend, and holiday are spent in the gym, the driveway, a game, or a tournament. All of this hard work developing skills is for the ultimate goal of a scholarship or a contract.
The Growing Parent: Anger & Listening
Make a point to listen to your child’s side of the story. This can often be extremely challenging for some parents, particularly when your child is clearly in the wrong. Nonetheless, it is extremely important for our children to feel confident that we are listening to them and understanding what they are trying to say.
Entrepreneurs: Sprint to the Spa
We talked about how our bodies prepare when we run from tigers (which are really imaginary hamsters chasing us). As you might imagine, this process is quite taxing on our bodies – it’s the reason that tigers sleep for a day or two after a big hunt, their bodies are refueling and repairing. The very process that maximizes our chance of survival, over time, becomes destructive and damaging when we don’t take time to repair. We are made to sprint from danger and then rest and recover.
How to be Like Iron Man
The character of Iron Man intrigues me. He is a combination superhero and rapscallion with a smidgen of chivalry thrown in to endear him to the hearts of many people. Beneath his modern day suit of armor, he shines as any Knight of the Roundtable, albeit more like a Monty Python character than the classic versions of knights like Arthur.
The Growing Parent: Anger & Tone of Voice
Thanks so much for all of your positive responses to my previous post on dealing with the frustrations our children evoke! To answer some of your questions I’ll expand on each of the 6 strategies I previously suggested.
Entrepreneurs: Don’t Run From the Hamster
Not many people would disagree that world changers, entrepreneurs, and visionaries are passionate people. Passion people invest so fully physically, emotionally, and mentally that it is easy for them to lose perspective. The problem with losing perspective is that we can no longer trust our perceptions to be accurate. This might not seem like a big deal but let’s talk for a minute about how important our perceptions are.
Grieving: Crying is Strength, not Weakness
Grief is a normal part of life. With every loss we experience, however large or small, there is a grieving process that ensues. We may not always be consciously aware that we are grieving or we may not allow it, but grief is there. And if we don’t grieve fully, it will harm us in the long run, popping up in unexpected ways.
Entrepreneurs: Focus on 2nd
If you are a world changer (ahem…or a workaholic), chances are you are not going to lose sight of the first priority. It’s the one that keeps you up at night. The one that you talk about. The one that you have trouble getting out of your head. However, your 2nd or 3rd priority (while still important) likely gets far less attention. It’s easy to convince oneself that 2nd or 3rd place is only a degree or two behind 1st place, but then the question becomes – is that really the case?
