Harnessing the Power of Seasonal Shifts for Personal Transformation

We have had a lot of big adjustments in our little home life this month. My little one has a highly sensitive nature (like her momma). This means she is one of the kiddos who takes a little longer and needs a little more support in times of transition. It is hard to watch our little ones struggle with hard things. Even when they are an inevitable part of life.

It is not just our little ones. It is human nature to want to stay with the familiar and for change to feel scary. The little ones within us want to stay safe and cling to the familiar. Even when we have outgrown old habits and ways.

As parents and mentors our job is not to protect our little ones from all the hard things in life. That would be an impossible task. Even if we could, it would not be in their best interest in the long run.

Avoiding short-term discomfort, fear or anxiety can provide relief in the moment. Yet avoidance only creates a bigger problem later.It does not get easier to face hard things by avoiding them. It gets harder.

Our job is not to protect our kiddos (or ourselves) from having to face hard things.That does not set them or us up for our fullest and most authentic lives.Avoidance keeps our lives small and comfortable and leads to confinement. This is not so comfortable after all.

Instead, it is more helpful and productive to focus on promoting resilience. Resilience is our ability to recover from or withstand difficult situations. We can focus on helping our kids (and ourselves) to build resiliency to help us even in the hard times.

This also helps us to build confidence. True confidence cannot come from mindset factors alone. We also need real-world feedback and results. We need to give ourselves space to suck at something and stick with it. For something hard to get easier with time and practice. True confidence comes from within as well as the real evidence that we have earned it.

So when something is hard support yourself like you would a loved one. Allow yourself to feel the difficult feelings. It is okay to be afraid, to not want to do it or like it. Be extra gentle with yourself when you are facing your fears and expanding your comfort zone. Allow for time to get into the groove. Give yourself positive feedback and validation for the process of sticking with it. Celebrate that you made it a day, a week, that it was hard but that you didn't quit. Stay focused on your longer-term 'why' for making hard changes. Remind yourself of the things that are easy now that used to be hard.

Doing something outside our comfort zone is evidence that we are growing. If nothing else celebrate your commitment to lifelong growth. It is never too late to start again and to continue to grow.