As we sat down for one final family dinner on Jan 2 before our schedule explodes in 2022 with continued activities, I asked my kids what was one of the biggest lessons they learned in 2021.
My oldest Kira (13 years old) started first. She said she learned “to not take things so seriously”. She added, “not in a bad way but in a good way”. Irelynn, who is 11, said “Yea, like ‘take the risk’ because no one really cares anyway”.
In a year where so much has changed for us as a family, our girls summed up my exact feelings of the entire experience from 2021. What they captured in this short conversation was absolute magic. Here’s the summary and major take-a-aways that I wish I knew when I was younger:
- What you think is a big deal now, really won’t be when you look back.
- It’s okay to move on from something, you most likely won’t miss it too much. You will just fill your time with something else just as valuable.
- We constantly think everyone is judging us and thinking about us, but in reality, everyone is thinking of themselves.
I love our dinner-time conversations. This one will always stick with me. I learned this exact lesson this year and decided to share my writing and story. Breaking that barrier of fear of sharing is the hardest one to break. I am so glad that I did.
