Disclaimer: I forfeit responsibility for any typos or misspellings in this piece, as extreme sleep deprivation is said to diminish cognitive capacity. Thangk you for your understanding.
Optimism is a practice.
Sometimes that practice comes easy—like watching the evening sun melt into the sparkling ocean with a marg in hand and a doggo at foot. And sometimes optimism is more difficult to access–like when your shoulder is dripping with curdled milk and your ears are ringing from the deafening cacophony of baby wails.
As a rookie parent of 30 days, I find myself oscillating between these two states frequently.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past month, it’s that baby books and tips from seasoned parents are helpful, but they’re a bit like trying to explain quantum physics with emojis—they can only take you so far.
So, here are the eye-opening revelations I’ve encountered through my brief parenthood journey, and how I’ve chosen optimism in the face of them all.
I’ve been thinking about this often—about how true appreciation for experiences is so often felt in retrospect. The wide lens snapshot tends to be blurred in the present by the treadmill of everyday life. Failing to access the bigger picture, or try to, is to rob these unremarkable moments of their value—and turns diaper changes into chores and baby cries into emergencies.
It’s only when you picture your life in the distant future, sitting around the dinner table embarrassing your child with old photo albums, the beauty of it all reveals itself. This is a perspective I try to harness during those wee hour diaper changes, and in an instant the present is restored with wonder. And then he pees all over my chest and we’re back to square one.
Getting humbled is just part of a full life I guess.
Your stories of optimism have shaped and steered Life is Good from day one. THANK YOU and write on!
Share a Story