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.

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