Swimming Upstream

Happy Monday, ladies!

Home stretch to the holidays. Can you taste a complete and total rest in your near future? Even if you have just a few days off between Christmas and New Year’s, I challenge you to maximize them. And when I say maximize them, I mean, can you challenge yourself to a complete and total unplug? Can you challenge yourself to actually rest? Maybe stay in bed and watch movies with the fam till noon? I challenge you to STOP this holiday season.

I had a beautiful 8th night of Chanukah last night. The lights burned bright, and I tried to pause and reflect. What is the Universe telling me tonight? 

We have been in full stress mode in my house- it’s exam time this entire week. First year of high school, first set of exams. And as I watched the lights flicker, something flickered in my mind– I can take my life coaching practice with my clients and implement those same strategies in my home.

I see my eldest son who sometimes swims upstream, against the current, instead of going WITH the flow of the current. And what I mean is, and I’ll give you examples: if he doesn’t like the lunch at school, he just won’t eat, or if a course is difficult, instead of preparing early, he will leave it until the last minute to avoid it.

We had some alone time in the car this morning and for the first time, I saw that I really got through to him on this subject of swimming upstream.

Me: Sweetheart, you know, sometimes you have to know how to play the game in life to get what you want. If you don’t like the lunch, no one says you have to love it, but you should definitely eat it. You’ve got to know it’s better to fill your stomach with nutrition, than to sit starving all afternoon and not able to concentrate. I know this seems obvious, but the better choice is to accept the things we cannot change and make them work for us instead of against us. 

Him: Yah I guess. I will eat it today even if I hate it. I understand what you mean, I have to be able to focus this afternoon.

Me: Okay, good. Just try. 

Me: And when it comes to studying or even life in general. We all love to do what we do well. It’s normal. It makes us feel good and confident to practice our strengths. But I challenge you to tackle what you don’t know. And if you don’t know something well, if you start studying it early enough, you won’t feel so stressed. You will feel a huge weight lifted. We all use tricks to get what we need. That’s called mastering life, dude.

And well, another lesson– we’ve all gotta try to make the best out of ANY situation in life. There is little point in swimming upstream, against the current.  But rather, going WITH the current in life, is always your better option. Any time. Any day. I learned a while ago to stop trying to swim upstream. There is a big difference between working hard toward manifesting a goal (YES YOU MUST), and fighting what we have zero ability to change (EMBRACE). I try and move with the flow of life, and it has made all the difference.

You have to know when to fight, and when to surrender. That is the ultimate fine line to walk.