I Promise- Winter has to End

but…while we’re waiting…

I am an amazing therapist in March. Give me 6 weeks and we’ll all be feeling better. Ok, maybe 8 weeks. This time of year hope always wins out over the darkness. Winter always end. The mound in my front yard looks like a glacier but the grass will recover. The days grow longer, the sun heats the sidewalks, the risk of subzero ends.

I know! It is going to snow Saturday. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday don’t look great either. I didn’t say this hope thing was going to be easy. It is going to snow and melt and snow some more until it floods and then it is going to be spring.

You have to be patient. Patience is one of those things we all wish we had more of, so let’s be patient.  Pick one thing that feels like it is never going to change and change it. Let go of your desire for immediate gratification and work on slow and steady wins the race. Plan for setbacks. Know you will get discouraged. Take on immeasurable movement.

Trim the debt/build your wealth.  Wherever you are, you can be somewhere different next year. Start small. Create one new habit. Spend less and make more. Focus on the small change.

Declutter the crap. Grab a bag and throw more away. Grab a bag for Goodwill. Put a bunch of stuff in your car and take it to someone else’s house.

Deepen your zen. Add one extra breath. Before you lose your temper, breathe. Before you buy crap or eat crap or do crap, breathe. Notice how good you are at breathing. Be great at breathing.

Slim the waistline. You damn well know what you need to do and have all the answers in the world as to why you can’t do the thing you need to do. Do it anyway.

Parent well. Pick a thing that is making your lose your shit and tackle it. Do bedtime better. Teach your kids to do chores. Hold steady when they are rude or demanding. You know- the patient parent that lets kids have a whole year to be 3, or 13.

Build your expertise. Be brilliant. Google it. Read more. Ask great questions. Admit you have no idea what you are talking about. Be a novice.

Lengthen your attention span. Recent scientists who decided to be experts in this stuff tell us that the average attention span is no 8.25 seconds… which is lower than that of a goldfish. I bet, if you put your mind to it, you could beat that damn goldfish. Put the phone down. Limit multitasking. Focus.

Make a difference. End poverty or war or racism or global warming. Yes, you. Do it. While we are waiting for the snow to melt so we can go outside and play would you please put some energy into those big things you also care about?

Just think about all we can accomplish before we have to mow the lawn again.