Do the Right Thing

I celebrated my 39th birthday a few weeks ago. I started making a list of 39 things that I wanted to accomplish this year. After writing a few things down, I quickly realized that a lot of them had to do with making choices. Doesn’t everything in life come back to making choices? Preferably good choices.

This poster has been hanging in my living room for a few months. It was actually a Christmas gift from Kara. Yes – a Christmas gift. (Don’t judge me. It took a while until I finally found the perfect home for it).

Just The Next

Right Thing,

One

Thing

At A Time.

It seems easy, right? Just do the right thing. Here is a secret. I’m not perfect. Nor am I the perfect parent. I’ve slipped up. I’ve made bad choices. We all have. But they don’t define who I am. When it comes to my son, I’m confident that I’m doing the right thing. Do you want to know why? Because I’m his mom. The only one he will every have.

 As a parent, we know our children better than anyone. We all question whether or not we are making the right choices for them. Are they going to the right school? Are we advocating for them if they need help? How much screen time should they have? Should I let him play Fortnite? At the end of the day, we (well – most of us) do the right thing.

Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. TRUST ME. I’m living it. There has been numerous times over the last 5+ years that I’ve been faced with a difficult choice to make. Sure doing the right thing wasn’t easy but I always knew that I was taking the high road. Would it have felt better to fire off a nasty email? You betcha. You can’t always follow your heart or head. It has to be a combination of the two.  The right decision most likely will have an emotional reward and more importantly just make sense. Even if it takes a little time to realize it.

Here is my one piece of advice. Just ask yourself, “what is best for my child?” Because often time, the answer isn’t what is best (or easiest) for you.

I haven’t quite finished my list of 39 things to accomplish this year. Honestly, this list gets a little bit more ambitious every year but I don’t think my #1 task will every change…keep doing the right thing.