Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything all at once. Breathe. You’re strong. You got this. Take it day by day.
—Karen Salmansohn
I find it hard to slow down, often sprinting from point A to point Z and back. But one evening, as I was putting the kids down for the night, Haley reminded me that I needed to downshift. “Read slower, Mommy,” she said. As Hope slept beside us in bed, I was hurrying through a book with Haley. Joel and I were going to the Zac Brown concert and all I could hear in my head was ticktock. “Read softer, Mommy, Hope is sleeping,” Haley whispered. She kept pulling me back into the moment, where I should have been. When it was time for her to brush her teeth, I skipped putting on my sunglasses like I normally do, signaling that her teeth were so white I had to wear shades. “Mommy, you didn’t put the glasses on.” Gosh, all those little rituals mattered to Haley, and I was rushing through the good stuff. I think sometimes it’s our kids who remind us to tap the brakes . . . just like the Zac Brown song “No Hurry.”