Healthy, Happy and Loved

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom comes from Reba McEntire.  I chose this quote especially to wrap up our month of thankfulness.  You might think Reba McEntire would be most thankful for her decades-long music career, her financial success or her incredible talent for writing and performing music. I am sure she is grateful for those things, but when she was asked what she was thankful for, here’s how she replied.

As special needs parents, we’ve had to prioritize our children. In doing so, we had to give less effort to things like our career, making new friends, or even taking good care of ourselves. We need to grieve the loss of those things because they are real sacrifices. Pause, without guilt about it and grieve those things.

Feeling loss for those things ≠ not loving or appreciating your child.  For those of you who hated math growing up, the translation of this is…feeling loss for those things does not equal, is not the same as, not loving or appreciating your child.  You can love your child, be grateful that you are able to care for them and, at the same time, feel sorry that you missed out on something else.

So, when you get a little bit of time back, as things get easier or you get better at managing them, I hope you will prioritize beginning to take good care of yourself again.  Aside from self-care, everything else can wait.

Reba reminds us that resume goals are not the same thing as eulogy goals.  You have had to postpone your resume goals. Okay, but you are nailing your eulogy goals. You want people to remember you as someone who cared for others, who showed up when the going got tough.  You do that every day! I hope you feel proud of the kind of person you are, even if the resume is looking a little shabby.