I worry about my daughter who is still in the states. She is there for vacation and some thesis research. It’s natural for a mom to worry especially if she finds out that her daughter’s housing is unpredictable and her money resources are slowly dwindling off. I keep telling her to move to my sister’s place in the suburbs of San Francisco but all she says is I have to learn to start living in the real world.
Yes, she is right. She is an adult and needs to learn to solve her dilemma.
Being the protective mother, I can’t help feeling disappointed that her original housing plan did not materialize. I feel like calling my bitch powers and spew out a tirade of tongue-lashing at the person causing her discomfort and misery. I check myself and remember that my daughter is not a little child. She is not the little girl that I use to place a band-aid on her knee. She can fight her battles. . The ““band-aid” she needs is just within her reach.
It really bugged me that things didn’t work out as planned.
Things sometimes never go as planned and this surely brings stressful times to us. I am sure my daughter feels stressed about her living conditions. Hard times are not all there is to life but they are part of life, growth and moving forward.
What she does with her challenging situation is her choice.
Like most of us, we too get into a bind. We can use the energy of hard times to work things out. We can use it to fine-tune our skills and our spirituality. Or we can go through these stressful situations suffering, storing up bitterness and refusing to grow or change.
Hard times can motivate us to bring out our best. We can use these times to move forward and upward to higher living, loving and growth. The choice is really ours to make.
Will we say “Life sucks. Nothing ever good comes out of this…”? Will we ask our God what we’re supposed to learn from this experience?
Hard times don’t have to be there for us so we can be motivated to grow and change. But if it is there, we can learn to channel it into growth and use it for achieving what’s good in life.
Sometimes I wished I extended my vacation to match with my daughter’s trip back home. I wanted to be there for her. I felt she needed my motherly hug and comfort that “things will turn out fine. You will be fine”.
Yet, I believed things happen for a reason. There is a silver lining to all of this.
How do you handle stressful times?
