Live your life happily each day.
Instead of hoping your kids live a better life than you’re living, why not show them what’s possible with a few habit changes?
Most of us have come to think it’s normal for life to feel a bit ‘meh’. We’re tired, overworked, pushed for time and stressed.
“That’s life,” we say.
But living this way is like driving a car with just a couple of litres of fuel in the tank. Any time a longer journey is required, the car breaks down at the side of the road. For us, that manifests as mental ill health. If we can only manage life as long as status quo is maintained, it doesn’t take long for the symptoms of ill health to show up.
Yet most people soldier on, hoping things will improve somehow.
The Howling Dog Story
There was a young man walking down the street and happened to see an older man sitting on his porch. Next to the older man was his dog, who was whining and whimpering.
“What’s wrong with your dog?” asked the young man.
“He’s laying on a nail”, replied the dog’s owner.
“Laying on a nail? Why doesn’t he get up?”
“It’s not hurting him bad enough.”
Adapted from Les Brown, Live Your Dreams
(William Morrow Paperbacks, July 1994) page 194
Howling across generations
According to mentalhealth.co.uk,
- Major depression is thought to be the second leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the burden of suicide and ischemic heart disease.
- It is estimated that 1 in 6 people in the past week experienced a common mental health problem
We could argue that life is to blame – work stress, pandemics, economic crises, and all the everyday worries and stresses placed upon us, it’s no wonder things are going the way they’re going!
But what if it’s something else?
What if it’s because we have TERRIBLE mental health habits and we’re teaching them to our kids too?
As an adoptive parent, my children’s mental health was my paramount concern from the day they arrived. It made me look at my role as their mother a bit differently because I realised that if I were to pass on some of my habits and beliefs to them, I’d be setting them up for even worse experiences when the time came for them to process the early life experiences they endured.
If I wanted to give them the best chance to experience feelings of empowerment, strength, resilience and genuine joy, despite everything they have been through, I had to figure out how to do those things myself too.
That’s what Big Happy Life is about.
For many of us, the nail isn’t painful enough to make us move until we realise we’re going to stick that same nail into our children if we don’t get up.
Change your habits, change your life.
Change your life, change your legacy.