Stuck in a Rut
Some days we soar, and some days we just feel stuck in a rut. As adults we know that getting a bit stuck every now and then is part of life’s journey, mindful or not.
Today was slightly more unnerving, because while my husband and I had a conversation of our current stuck state, my son coincidentally mentioned that he was feeling a bit stuck himself right now. He said that he was starting to wonder what the point of the everyday routine was…school, homework, eat, sleep, rinse, repeat.
My natural maternal first reaction was complete panic. What if my son is depressed? I was relieved to uncover that it was nothing too serious, just that he was feeling a bit down due to the daily routine being less than invigorating. Given the current state of the world, his thoughts were not surprising – the experience of team sports and playdates could probably get his wheels turning again, but right now life is a bit more basic. Even under ‘normal’ conditions we all have times we feel like our wheels are not getting us anywhere.
It is one thing to work ourselves out of a rut as adults, but how about when our kids feel this way. What do we do?
Express gratitude!
Gratitude is especially relevant right now with the American holiday of Thanksgiving and other upcoming festive holidays. Expressing gratitude is a simple but powerful tool that kids can easily do and reap the benefits. By now you have probably heard myKinCloud repeatedly state the importance of expressing gratitude, to the point that we hope you expect it and are even bored by us repeating it. The myKinCloud app makes journaling gratitude easy to become part of our daily family habits.
Today my family did not have our devices on us during our discussion, so we took some immediate action and tried a gratitude circle. We took turns, each going 3 times, stating 1 thing we are grateful for with each turn. The first round felt more harrowing than happifying, but by the second and especially the third rounds we were feeding off each other’s grateful energies.
We all agreed that we left that circle of gratitude expression with a renewed lightness. It was inspiring to hear other people’s gratitude and energizing to share our own. Recognizing what we are grateful for helps us realize that we will not be stuck forever.
Stuck in a rut? And even more importantly, are your kids stuck in a rut? We said it before, and we will say it again. Take a moment to share your gratitude with your family. Have them do the same.
Gratitude = Happiness.
What do you do when you are stuck in a rut?