LifeSoup by Cherie Dawn Haas

For months now my emotions have been on a teeter-totter, all due to something that’s as natural as the trees budding before us now.

My youngest son is graduating from high school and going away to college in the fall. (If you don’t relate to this now, you may in the future, or maybe you know someone who’s going through this.)

While he’s level about it and a touch on the high side, I’m all over the place. Thoughts about the end of his high school marching band era (our era – I’ve volunteered countless hours over the past six years to be with both of my sons more and support them); frustrations over hoop-jumping for scholarships that I somehow thought would be a given, considering his music experience and grades; and a pre-emptiness about him leaving home and living in a dorm two hours away … it’s a lot.

But I have secret tools that I use almost every day to keep me from feeling anxious for too long. You can use these, too, for probably anything going on in your life.

The first is gratitude. I’m grateful for the band experience he has had leading up to this, and that he gets to go to college.

The second is present-moment awareness. When I feel sad about no longer living through the experiences we’ve had as a family, when I’m in a holding state of waiting for scholarship news or paperwork approval, and when I’m nervous about him moving out, I stop and think about what our life is like at this exact moment. And it’s fine. At this moment, I’ve done everything I can up until this point.

As I write this on a random evening, our youngest is watching television, barefoot and almost within hair-tousling distance. Our other son is downstairs studying, wrapping up his second college semester. My husband is at work. The bills are paid. Plenty of food in the fridge. The cars are in good shape. There’s a slight breeze coming in from the open window, where I hear birds chirping outside.

See how gratitude can change everything? Even though I have to repeat this process again and again, that’s okay because I’m always grateful for those things I listed above, and there are always new things I can add to the list.

Try it out and see if it helps the next time you’re sad about something from the past or worried about something that hasn’t even happened. 

In Other News: Last Chance to Get the Lowest Price

To stay comparable on the bookshelves, I’ll need to increase the price of my first two books, Girl on Fire and Personified. I wanted to give you, my friends, a heads-up because I appreciate you so much. If you haven’t gotten these books yet and they’re on your radar, use these links to order your copies now at the lowest price possible. The price will increase around June 1:

Girl on Fire: https://amzn.to/3KRc1FC
Personifed: https://amzn.to/3MIplxg