A Change in Perspective

I was getting my oldest child up for school, we were late once again. The baby was crying and my pre-schoolers were totally starving when I realized I needed to grab my daughter’s pencil box out of the car. I walked out of our brand new, half-installed screen door and went to the car door and pulled… no click, and no open door. I turned back to the house to grab my car keys… no click, and no open door. At first I thought the new screen door had locked behind me somehow. But it was something else; the half-installed brand new screen door was firmly lodged in the frame.

I eventually proceeded to one of the many coping mechanisms. After I yelled, complained and cried, I called a good friend and talked about my circumstances. She in turn told me about her day and I felt better. It turns out that being “locked” out of your house for a few minutes by a rouge screen door is minor, especially when compared to what the parents of teens go through.

Stress tends to cloud our perception of situations, normally expanding all the negatives and diminishing all the positives. My friend helped me see things differently and even though I still had a broken door, hungry kids and a child late for school, I felt much better about it. How many times have you picked up a cigarette instead of the phone? A set of go-to people can be wonderful coping tools. Choose a half dozen or so close friends that you trust and ask them if you can call them when you feel the stress building. These social connections are essential; when you have them to lean on you be better off for it.