A few weeks ago, my husband was away for a week on business. In the past, I would have been angry and annoyed that all of the family duties and responsibilities would be falling on me. Since starting The Happy Apricot, I’ve found myself cultivating calm moments, and this in turn has given me a new lease on life. (dramatic, but true).
I saw his upcoming trip as an opportunity to bond with my kids and get some special 1-1 time with each of them. I was all positivity and determination.
Day one became night one and let me tell you, I was screaming inside. The bickering, the snack requests, my unshowered self - I was not loving it. So on a whim I said “Get in the car!”. I made some ice cream cones, buckled my kids in the car and off we went. They asked me where we were going and I said, “oh don’t you know?! This is our very first ice cream drive! It’s our special time together while Daddy is away!”
As they happily ate their ice cream, we found ourselves talking about their day, recounting what happened and what made them happy or sad. We saw baby goats out the window, and reveled in how fields of hay turned into beautifully rolled bales of hay. I put on some Hawaiian music and we listened to it as we watched the wind blow through the cornfields we passed.
Within moments of finishing his ice cream, my son dozed off to sleep. My daughter now had my full attention and she calmed as we chatted. As we finished our drive, we talked about how we were going to get cozy and head right to bed. There were no fights. There was no sass. There was no pushback. There were however, a few yawns from my “very not-tired” 6 year old. Bedtime wasn’t a struggle, it was peaceful.
We did this every night that week and every night it was the same result. A sleeping 3 year old, a calm mom, bellies full of ice cream and a zenned out daughter. It was so simple, yet, it worked.
This, my friends, is what cultivating calm in your life can look like. Driving around with ice cream might not be something you and your family can do, but I bet you there is a tiny little thing you can create that could become you very new favorite way to cultivate calm with those you love.
Calm doesn’t have to be silence, incense, and wonky music in the background. It can be watching the sunset from your car while having a tiny bowl of ice cream, surrounded by those you love. Anything that brings your soul peace – this my friends is what we are striving for.
Peace.
Carrianne Nackers
Artist/Founder of The Happy Apricot
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