Since spring is around the corner I am trying to decide what my fitness goals will be. Most likely I will sign up for a half marathon again, but I need to start training soon if I am going to be ready for it in time. The girls and I have enjoyed ice skating as our exercise this winter. Chloe especially loves it and thinks she is pretty good! I never knew a three year old could skate quite like my baby can.
Tonight we had a wonderful date night. I feel like the more independent the girls are becoming, the easier it is to leave them and enjoy our time together. We saw a movie and had dinner at a great restaurant in Wooster. I just treasure these times that I have with Dan because they are fun and meaningful and just plain healthy for our marriage. We have eye contact and stimulating conversation and it is so refreshing. Plus we saw a really good movie.
When we got home tonight we had a very interesting conversation with our seven year old about having faith in herself. She is playing Upward basketball and is enjoying it, but definitely struggles with confidence. The lack of belief in herself transfers to lack of aggressiveness or assertiveness on the court. She has the skill, but lacks the confidence. Funny thing is, Dan and I both dealt with the same thing as kids. I recently had a talk with my dad about this very topic. I was a tough one to work with, especially in high school, because I did not believe in myself. I played tennis and I played it well. In fact, I knew I had some serious skill. I was good.....during practice. But as soon as I walked on the court to play a match, I lost mentally and actually lost the game. I had a tremendous record of losses. I rarely, if ever, won a match. I remember playing a match against a girl who broke her arm and had to play with her non-dominant hand. And she still beat me. It was humiliating. It took me until my senior year to make the varsity team. And even when I made the team, I played second doubles because I couldn't win. I had the skill to play number one singles, but never reached that goal. I just had no self esteem and it showed on the court. Dan played basketball. He had skill and I have personally seen him play as an adult....he is pretty darn good. But he had zero aggressiveness when he played in high school. He just couldn't go anywhere with the game because he didn't believe in himself. So here we are, two parents who struggled with this, telling our seven year old to start believing in herself now. Because it is an important skill to learn early on. We are doing everything we can to build her up and help her see her potential. We are telling her not to make the same mistakes that we did as kids. We had her attention. She seemed to understand what we were saying. But how will she transfer that to her life? We told her to let God show her how much potential she has. We told her to believe that she is something special. I hope she truly did hear what we said. I hope she gets it. This is something we certainly will commit to praying for her as she grows and develops. In fact, what a great prayer to have for all the kids. I pray that they learn early on how much potential and goodness they have!
As I have been researching this topic, I came across a beautiful poem that gave me some inspiration and extra thoughts on how to work with our kids on this topic. But one of the most important things I learned from talking to my dad recently, was that life is about learning how to live in the present. The past is gone and the future is unseen, so living in the present just makes sense. We need to embrace where we are in life, forgive past burdens and stop worrying about the future that may or may not happen. Good life lessons that I can pass on to my kids!
Believe in your heart that
something wonderful is about to happen.
Love your life.
Believe in your own power,
and in your own potential,
and your own innate goodness.
Wake every morning with the awe of just being alive.
Discover each day the magnificent,
awesome beauty in the world.
Explore and embrace life
in yourself and in everyone
you see each day.
Reach within to find your own specialness.
Amaze yourself and rouse those around you to
the potential of each new day
Don't be afraid to admit your less than perfect;
this is the essence
of our humanity.
Let those who love you help you.
Trust enough to be able to take.
Look with hope to the horizon of today
for today is all we truly have.
Live this day well.
Let a little sun out as well as in.
Create your own rainbows.
Be open to all your possibilities,
all possibilities and miracles.
Always believe in miracles.
~Author Unknown~
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