After working full-time for several years I resigned from my high stress job. If I hadn't had such a strong confirmation that it was the right thing to do it may have been a hard decision to make.
You may ask, "Why would you give up a fairly high paying job with great benefits in this economy?" I know people have thought it even if they haven’t said it. It's only been two weeks and already I can tell you why. It’s true I am making no money, but I wake up excited to be alive EVERY day!
One of the best things about being home is having time to REALLY think about what matters most in life, and to start getting my priorities straight.
I have had time to reconnect with people I care about, make cookies and give them away and call old friends to visit or wish them happy birthday.I have been able to check on our parents every day, play with my grand baby and record things in a journal. I have helped someone I care about catch up on their housework, cooked real meals for my family, and have given rides to someone who doesn’t have a car. I have read four books and started studying gospel teaching that are important to me. I have started organizing and repairing things in my home and finally feel hopeful that eventually it will be the kind of home I can be proud to live in, a haven of refuge where everyone feels welcome and will love to be no matter how simple and humble it may be. I have had some really great conversations with my kids unlike some in the past that were all too often carried on while I was preoccupied with an activity that had a deadline. I have been able to spend time with my husband and look forward to being spontaneous like I used to be, running off on some wilderness adventure of his making! It has been great building relationships with sisters I have been close to in the past, and working on building one with a sister I never knew while growing up, but am already learning to love just like the rest!
I know everyone doesn’t have the opportunity to work at home so I feel SO blessed! I love life! I love having time to work on things that are truly important. I have thanked God every day that I was blessed to be home when my kids were little. Those were the happiest days of my life and I wouldn’t trade them for any amount of money. And once again I thank Him to be working at home. I know I don’t have any little people who are here depending on me, but I have pledged to be useful to God and others with this gift I have been given—the gift of time.
Yes, there are many things to add to my to-do list. I need to improve on my Visiting Teaching, add in a fitness plan to improve my health, volunteer my time to serve others and many more things. But for now this is a good start and I am determined not to waste the thing I have come to appreciate the most lately—TIME!
Showing posts with label Relationships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Relationships. Show all posts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Tell Them The Way You Feel
Each year that I have been a leader at girl’s camp I have given the girls a letter from their parents to make them feel special and loved.
One night I gave each of the girls their letters. Some got emotional while others made light of them. Later that evening I found one girl quite emotional. I ask her what was going on and she handed me the letter and ask me to read it. In it her mother told her how much she loved and appreciated her and said how proud she was of the life she was living. She told me that her mother had never told her anything nice like that before and it meant so much to her.
One mother told me thanks for asking her to write a letter to her daughter and said it had really strengthened their relationship. The girl told her mom that she never knew her mom felt that way about her. She wrapped her arms around her mom’s neck and asked her mom to hold her. It had been years since she had done that.
This experience taught me the importance of letting people know how much we love them by saying it and writing it. I’m sure these mothers show their daughters that they love them by their actions but maybe not in spoken or written word that they can easily understand. Everyone has a different way of expressing their feelings, but I learned that kids need to hear it and read it. They don’t always just know how we feel. It’s so important to let our kids know that we love and cherish them and that we are proud of them too.
One night I gave each of the girls their letters. Some got emotional while others made light of them. Later that evening I found one girl quite emotional. I ask her what was going on and she handed me the letter and ask me to read it. In it her mother told her how much she loved and appreciated her and said how proud she was of the life she was living. She told me that her mother had never told her anything nice like that before and it meant so much to her.
One mother told me thanks for asking her to write a letter to her daughter and said it had really strengthened their relationship. The girl told her mom that she never knew her mom felt that way about her. She wrapped her arms around her mom’s neck and asked her mom to hold her. It had been years since she had done that.
This experience taught me the importance of letting people know how much we love them by saying it and writing it. I’m sure these mothers show their daughters that they love them by their actions but maybe not in spoken or written word that they can easily understand. Everyone has a different way of expressing their feelings, but I learned that kids need to hear it and read it. They don’t always just know how we feel. It’s so important to let our kids know that we love and cherish them and that we are proud of them too.
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