For the 2nd day in a row I awakened with a headache. There’s no explanation for the headache; I’m not overly stressed; I haven’t been drinking; there’s no obvious medical explanation. My first inclination was to stay in bed and sleep all day, but that thought quickly went away when my 11 and 8 year olds came bouncing down the stairs asking to go to the store to spent more of their Christmas money.
The headache didn’t go away, but as I watched my children’s faces beam with happiness when I answered in the affirmation, I knew that the day would be okay.
After going to six different stores so they could find what they wanted, sitting in traffic, and enduring running and screaming kids, I thought my head would explode. The headache caused some negative thoughts – why do parents allow their children to behave that way in public; why doesn’t this store have more checkout lines open; why is traffic so bad on a Saturday afternoon. By the time we returned home four hours later, I was exhausted and my head was pounding even more. However, my children were happy!
i thought I would finally get an opportunity to rest, but then my 11-year-old asked me to watch a movie with him and his brother. I endured 90 minutes of Digimon, which I still don’t understand. Then my 8th year spent some time explaining to me the characters on Five Nights at Freddy’s, which I still don’t understand. What happened to the cartoons when I was a kid? This did not help my headache. But, I was spending quality time with my children.
Soon, I remembered I still had to prepare dinner, do laundry and clean the house…so much for my restful Saturday!
My children then made the decision that they would prepare dinner for me. My 11-year-old prepared homemade fries, and my 8-year-old cooked grilled cheese sandwiches. It wasn’t a gourmet meal, but it was made with love, and it was delicious! As we sat and ate dinner, I began to think about how horrible this day was for me because of my headache, and how wonderful and blessed I am because my children are always there to make everything okay.
At the end of the day, this was a great day because I made the choice not to concentrate on what was making it bad, but what could make it better! My bad day was okay because I accentuated the positive rather than let the negative take control.
We all have bad days – someone says something mean to you or about you, you feel bad, or you feel hopeless. It’s okay to have a bad day, but the way to fight back is to treat someone better than you would treat yourself. You combat negativity with positivity, and in the end, everything will be okay.
All Things Are Possible! 