Finding what I look for
Sometime last week I read a news article which talked about how Justin Bieber had started a fashion trend of bangs swept to the side. I read the article with amusement because I had never seen this particular hairstyle anywhere else. In the week since reading the article, I’m seeing that haircut on heads all over town. I’m pretty sure that the incidence of Justin Bieber haircuts has not increased dramatically since last week. What changed is that I started paying attention and knew enough to recognize what I was seeing. This phenomenon is common and happens to me all the time. I study literature and the world is more filled with literary references. I start researching a certain type of car, or phone, or bicycle, and it seems that everyone else already has one exactly like it.
I’m pondering this today as I consider all the focused attention I’ve been giving to parenting. I’ve been looking for areas that need work, and, not suprisingly, I’ve found them. The truth is that no matter how much I plan, schedule, and work there will always be things I could do better. The more I focus on those things which are slightly askew, the more of them I see. It spirals in closer and closer until the problems obscure the joyful things about my children.
I need to figure out ways to take a step back and get some perspective. I need to back off and see if the problems really are as big and omnipresent as they have been feeling lately. I suspect they aren’t. I suspect I am seeing mountains when what is actually present are foothills.
I’ll find what I am looking for. I need to make sure that some of what I am looking for are reasons to feel joyful in the amazing children I have.