Mostly Manageable

I'm happy to report that I did very well in my efforts to be nice for a week.

I only yelled one word the whole 7 days. I had walked to the neighbor kid's house to tell Oliver it was time to come eat lunch and go to school. He started riding his bike home, then turned back to do "one more thing" (which turned out to be soaking his head in their little rock fountain). I didn't feel like walking back over to whisper a reminder to him that he might be late for school if he didn't come right then, so I loudly called his name. As the firm echo of his name slapped me in the face, I felt instant remorse for spoiling part of my goal. I think it was Friday when it happened. And I'd been doing so well! But, hey, I think I get a little extra credit for the week since it also happened to be "that time of the month".

It was a great week. I wondered why it was suddenly so easy to be nice, and asked myself why I hadn't been able to change before. I'm certain I had divine assistance. It was eye-opening. I loved the constant feeling of being calm and collected, knowing I'd already decided how I was going to respond no matter what the situation. The more I practiced, the more natural it felt. I noticed that the kids were more upbeat and agreeable. It seemed to be directly related to my more gentle behavior. I successfully kept my voice down for the majority of the week. And I mean only a tiny bit less than 100%. There really was no reason to argue with anyone because I'd predetermined that there was no good reason to. I remained calm whenever something normally might have frazzled me. That's huge for me.

I only experienced one other minor slip-up on Saturday afternoon when I was accused of turning a corner too close to the curb. I thought I used a pretty calm voice to explain that there was a bike lane and I was nowhere near hitting the curb. But Cora (ever the family mediator) seemed to think there was a problem brewing in the front row of the car. The issue was quickly dropped. I hung my head in shame, which made me crash into the curb. Just kidding. =)

I'm going to continue with this little exercise in social serenity. It's been an inspirational experience so far.