Lessons Learned From Kids: "It's All Fine"

Today at work, the two boys I babysit for were running around playing like only two and three year old boys can, and the bigger one of them accidentally plowed right into the smaller one. The little guy jumped right up, declared, "It's all fine," and went on playing with his brother. About three seconds later, the bigger guy unintentionally trampled his brother again. Shaking off, the little man once again just returned to playing after reassuring me, "I'm all fine." This happened several more times throughout the morning. I admired the littler one's resilience. He just kept getting back up, forgiving his brother, and moving on with his day. He was constantly being physically (accidentally) knocked down, but that didn't phase him. All he had to do was stand back up.

Throughout the day, the boys dropped their milk cups, misjudged the height of the counter tops and banged their heads, coughed lots due to Croup, and the littler one woke up from his nap with a fever; through it all, the they kept letting me know, "It's all fine, Dani."

Wow.

I'm nineteen years older than those boys, and it seems they handle struggles in their lives better than I do! In the past two weeks, my car has died while I was driving at night in the rain on a busy two lane highway; paying to have that repaired wasn't fun. My knee that I've torn more times than I want to admit has been hurting more than normal, and I'm stubbornly refusing to admit I should probably get it checked out by a doctor. I've struggled with not getting overwhelmed with work, and I've failed at completing half of the stuff that's been on my to-do list for weeks now.

Still, I should be saying, "It's all fine." Because it is.

On Monday, my mom and I decided to take a trip to Europe...in two weeks. The timing worked out that I can meet with the Teach Beyond ESL staff in Hungary during those dates, so that's why the trip is happening when it is. The stress of planning the trip is all I could think about, and for a solid two days, I was overwhelmed with everything I needed to do to get ready for the trip. I wasn't looking forward to it because I felt so unprepared. Who decides to go to Europe and then leaves two weeks later?! Not me, usually. I love travelling; but I love planning my trips out far in advance.

When I voiced my complaints about not getting enough time to think through the trip and plan, I was told, by more than one friend, to essentially "get over it." It was pointed out to me that it's a trip to Europe and I should just be grateful. I needed that. I needed someone to honestly tell me I was freaking out over nothing.

Because, in the words of a wise three year old, "It's all fine."

Talk about a perspective change. When I get too caught up in the conflicts I'm facing or the stress I'm under, I need to remember that even in the midst of hard circumstances, "It's all fine."