📖Turn the Page📖“What if I hate it, Mom?” I signed deeply, fighting the urge to just tell her she didn’t have to do it. She had been complaining and whining the entire ride over the pool. If it’s one thing that sends me over the edge it’s incessant whining about something that hasn’t happened yet. I gathered my patience and my breath and was about to launch into a familiar diatribe about why we have to honor our commitments, stay the course, try new things etc. And then, I blew out all the air and said nothing. Because, what if she did? We were in the car, sitting in the parking lot before her first swim practice with a new team. As I’ve let you know in detail we moved over the summer. New state, new town, new school, new everything. Including new swim team. She really wanted to do it. She had a great summer season and was ready to try winter swimming. Or at least she thought she did. Now that it was here, she was having major doubts. After all her best friend, the friend she had leaned on during these difficult “new” experiences (who often was doing the same activities), wasn’t there anymore. At the bottom of all that complaining, there was one big feeling. “But Mom, I’m scared.” Because of course she was. New things are hard. For kids. For adults who have moved 14 times in the last 20 years. It’s just hard to be somewhere you don’t know anyone. And the thing is, I keep reminding her (and really myself), if we don’t try, we won’t meet anyone. We won’t feel part of all the new things. If we don’t put ourselves out there, even if it’s comfortable, especially when it’s uncomfortable, we’ll never know what might have been there for us. And isn’t that worse? I didn’t say any of this to her. I just took all that air, all those thoughts, all those what ifs, and instead, the thing that came out was: “… Yeah. Maybe. But what if you LOVE IT?” We have to keep trying things, even when they are really scary. This is a thing I am learning alllll over again folks. And I hope there is some little thread here for you today. If there is, hit reply and tell me. I love hearing your stories. Happy Monday, Meredith
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