Riding the waves of big emotions—hers and mine

Yesterday, my 9 year old had a full blown meltdown over unfinished homework. In her panic, my first thought was: “This shouldn’t be happening! She’s almost 9, why can’t she handle this better?”

That’s usually where I spiral, wishing reality was different and fighting the present moment, making myself miserable right alongside her.

But yesterday I caught myself. Instead of following the “this shouldn’t be happening” story down the rabbit hole, I reminded myself: “Well…this is happening. And there’s nothing wrong with it. It's just what the moment is.”

Did it fix everything? No. She still had big feelings. We still had to ride them out. But she made it to school, and I managed to stay a little steadier and hold the space for her to be with her feelings.

It’s not glamorous, but I’ll take it as a small win: when I surrender to the present moment, I suffer less, and sometimes that helps my kid suffer less too.