Fetching the red underwear
Yesterday
afternoon just as I stopped at my mom’s house to pick up my eldest son, I got a
phone call from my husband. My son’s underwear, which he needed to get dressed
for his first ever school awards evening, was left in the car.
Now, I know
that that is not supposed to be a big deal. I mean, you just get back in your
car and drive the 2 odd kilometres to the swimming school where he is with the
other two boys, get the red undies from your husband, drive back to your mom’s
house, give it to your son, and then you are back on track again.
But no, at
that moment it was just too much to handle. My “resilience metre” was pushed
too far. (Ashamedly) I completely freaked out. Luckily there were no kids with
me otherwise their vocabulary would have been extended to very colourful
language.
As I got
back in the car and drove, well maybe not “drove”, it was more “raced like a
deranged fool”, I thought to myself that this is the “resilience moment” that I
always talk to clients about. Then I realised that it took so little to
completely throw me into freak-out mode. As I stopped (read: screeched to a
halt) in front of the swimming school my 3 and 6 year olds came running out to
greet me. Then it completely hit me. Why am I making such a big deal out of the
red undies? Really? Is this what life is about for me now?
But I think
that is exactly it. We are so busy rushing through life, doing chores, coping
with difficult emotionally loaded situations, and in between we are trying to
actually make a difference in life - live our purpose. So when I got the red
undies phone call it was just the last thing I had to deal with after dealing
with a myriad of emotionally and physically taxing situations in my work day.
And then to “be resilient” is not easy. Seeing my kids’ pure joy and happiness
to see me and then realising how absolutely ridiculous the situation (and my
reaction to it) was, helped me to “bounce back” at that moment.
Resilience
is just one of the Self management tools
in the Motto Model that we continually
have to work on. All the Motto Model elements help you to live your best life
and realise your personal vision. Where you are and the areas that you need to
develop at this stage of your life are measured with the Individual Assessment
tool on our website.
http://www.motto.za.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=34:blog-28-november-2012-construct-d-resilience&catid=10:contributor&Itemid=101
