Never was there a person who didn’t have to leverage. Parents know this all too well. You are in the middle of a diaper, and I mean the big #2, and the cooking timer goes off. You are faced with two options: a) those cookies can burn, but you managed the diaper logistics and the cookies all by yourself; or b) you can holler for someone to grab the cookies and they come out perfect and you can tidy off that baby’s bottom with the full routine. I can’t for the life of me, find it easy to leverage. And it can make all the difference. Your cookies can turn out being the delicate version of heaven, or hard-baked crap. Freeing yourself up of the control. It sounds easy. Why isn’t it that easy?
There are tons of reasons we don’t give up control. I watch my children and observe their madness to make myself feel better about this. Evy wants to take all the crayons, but Isla wants to color too. They both want to control the entire project, but they can’t. So Evy ends up managing the color book art projects and Isla takes it to the table and goes on top of it actually with her color pages and all. She literally, hopped up and thought if we can’t share lets separate and do two different projects that we each control! Madness right? It’s no different from adults. It breeds competition. Sure there are healthy psychological and physical advantages going on in all that crayon project chaos; however, they might one day leverage each other and make a project that beats all crafting history.
When we let go of control, we also let go of having it be our very own. Getting all the credit. The most successful projects and events I’ve done have included the brainstorming, ideas, and co-work of others. Sharing and leveraging can also be great when it comes to cleaning and managing your household. How Great does a clean house feel?! It’s one of my favorite natural highs. But honestly, how the heck else can 1 parent possibly make every baseball game, dance rehearsal, track meet, and bake the cookies for tomorrows potluck? Let’s be serious, true happiness comes from enjoying the best of what we have in front of us and making the very best of it. It’s not about “having” the very best and doing it all. Juggling 10-balls in the air, to be everything to everyone. For what?
I’m resolving to be better and leverage when necessary. Just as my kids’ favorite Sprout network jingle goes, “Do it together, D.I.T.”! Letting others shine “with you” and discovering their own new talents is a gift.
Happiness beats madness any day.
Thank you for reading~
seeds of my heart 