It’s officially summer, and I’m still shocked by the fact that my youngest daughter just finished the fifth grade. She finished elementary school! At times like this Ferris Bueller keeps playing in my head: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I try to pay attention, really I do — and yet here we are, and it feels like the years are blowing by. She’s eleven. We have seven years left with her, only three with our oldest, before they’re off to college. It’s a mind-blowing and joyful dichotomy, isn’t it? On the one hand, it’s exciting! My amazing daughters are growing up and are going to do amazing things with their lives. On the other hand, bittersweet — because they’ll never be children again.
Here’s the lesson I’m working on: we don’t want to miss the joy of it all by wallowing in the sorrow of it all.
When I think about my daughters, I know that I don’t want to miss the adventures that are going to happen tomorrow because I’m mourning what ended yesterday. My daughters are growing up, and there are moments for the bittersweet nostalgia, but not at the expense of what they’re doing right now.
Dr. Seuss wrote, “Don’t cry that it’s over, celebrate that it happened.” Instead of being upset that something is ending — let’s celebrate what’s wonderful. Let’s celebrate the joy we just experienced. When you focus on what you’re losing, you stay in the negative state. When you sit in a place of celebration — you start to seek more celebration. When it comes to leading your daily self, I encourage you to remember the wisdoms of those philosophers Bueller and Seuss, and stop, look around and celebrate.
