By Naazish YarKhan
I’m folding laundry and picking stuff of the floor and such and my son, who is five, thinks that should be part of my job rather than a family chore, since I am home and don’t have a job, while the rest of them are busy going to school or work, including him.
So while I do intend to make him tackle his nonexistent list of chores, I do household work which I hate and find mind-numbing. Amidst it , I find myself match making, answering emails, watching for emails that haven’t arrived, flipping through websites, shifting things from one corner to the next on the counter, in other words, I’m wasting time.
In between wasting time, I chance upon a collection of my hand-written notes of advice gleaned from here, there and everywhere. Some writer called quotes the literary equivalent to popping some Vitamin C into your system.
Here I share some with you:
1) Every decision ever made has been destructive or constructive or it wasn’t really a decision at all. It was being passive. Making any decision is better than making no decision.
2) Every time you do ‘courage’, you get a reward – a boost of confidence. A feeling that you can tolerate risk or change or loss. That you can go out and make it happen. Courage is how you father/mother/parent yourself. ( My fav!)
3) Courage = Wisdom + Action. Motivation = Energy + Will
4) You can never lose by making a decision, even if it goes wrong. From mistakes we grow, and the more decisions we make, the better we get at it. The cure for feeling trapped, is making a decision.
5) The more decisions you make, the more leadership roles you get and the more freedom you have.
6) To be able to stand up for oneself, you have to have an identity. So it’s a very good idea to give kids preferences and choices so that they can develop an identity.
7) Friendship is enjoying each others positive, emotional energy.
8) Assertiveness is mothering yourself, without forcing others or manipulating others, to get your needs met. Finding out what your needs are and finding ways to meet those needs, without depending on others to fill the voids for you. ( very important advice for stay home moms).
9) Courage is to face the fear of ridicule. When we do courage or assertiveness, those are the loneliest times. You may be swimming against the tide, but that’s okay because it’s going to allow you to grow.
10) When we suffer over things we have no control over, that’s when our positive energy is being replaced by negative energy. So train yourself to listen to the word ‘no’more often and train yourself to say the word ‘no’ more often too.
