As anyone would expect, anytime we feel like we’re making progress with self improvement, there’s always that brick wall. You know the one, and it’s likely different for each of us…the spouse, co-worker, boss, the guy that took your parking space, the dog….

Today it was my 13 year old. I’ve spent the last several days feeling fantastic everywhere I’ve gone. Nobody could get me down although they seemed to try, I didn’t allow anyone get to me. Not only did I not let them pull me down, they couldn’t help but be picked up from my contagious enthusiasm. But when I got home today, my teenager was being a typical moody teenager…need I say more? The wrong thing was said, and it went downhill from there. We were both throwing out the best ‘I can out insult you’ we could come up with and we both stomped off felling defeated. It certainly goes to show that we always hurt the ones we love.
I’m sharing this with you for two reasons. 1) I don’t always have the answers in the moment either. 2) and most important, we have to learn from the mistakes we make and work on making it right. We can create wreckage in our lives in less than a second. I didn’t have to engage in that interaction the way I did, and I’m the first to admit that I reacted poorly and without thought. But the cool part is, we can fix it….and we MUST. Certainly if it’s that guy in the parking lot that almost hit me, I may never see them again, but I do have to be able to sleep at night. But when it’s right here at home, deep down in my heart eating at me I can’t go very long without a yearning inside to have peace again. I know I can’t get there without reconciling the action I took that wasn’t right. What I have to remember is…. I’m still dealing with a moody teen that probably won’t want to hear my apology, but that doesn’t get me out of making it. The really hard part is I can’t control the reaction I’ll get from it, but I still have to do it.
I know that for me to continue to grow and develop myself in my relationships I have to learn to accept the parts outside of my control (other people’s response) but when I know that I’ve done the right thing, I can overcome any obstacle that comes my way. I have to continually work on ME…. Persevere through sometimes very hard and emotional triggers but what I get on the other side is very rewarding. So don’t let the brick wall set you back….take a breath and keep plugging along. We’ll all find the other side eventually! Because we CAN!