‘Tis the season for a multitude of feelings. Joy, gratitude, love are the ones I hope are first to come to mind. For many, it is anxiety, grief, aggravation. A lot has been written about all of these. The feeling that is first for me this year is anticipation. 2021 brought big changes in my life. And the year isn’t done bringing change. I am feeling a lot of different things around that anticipation. There is an air of child like excitement in the feelings. It makes me more empathetic to the anxiety that comes with the anticipation for children. As I struggle with communicating what I need, feel constant sense of fatigue and am irritable for no justifiable reason; I feel bad for the small child who doesn’t know how to articulate that frustration. And so starts a circle of anxious, excited child frustrating adults; who are full of their own feels; who lash out at an innocent bystander; who goes home to an anxious, excited child… You see what is happening here.
Perhaps we should all remember to take a deep breath, give each other some grace, and hope we get the same grace when we need it.
We are all on the giving and getting end of the emotions of anticipation. When you feel that building to a negative resolution, take the advice children get; take a time out. Step down, step away and breath, give grace to keep the moments joy filled. It isn’t easy or as physically satisfying, it is emotionally healthier. Keep the good excitement in the anticipation for fond memory building.
These are the good old days we are going to look back on. Let’s make the memories fond ones.
