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My Dear Little Ones,
I am writing this letter to you as the day comes to an end and turns into night. I lay awake with thoughts of what I hope to instill in you. As your greatest mentor thus far, I hope I can raise you with morals strong enough to empower you to take on any pressure, and with values to bear the weight of the strongest tide. Most of all, an inner joy that will be unbreakable by life’s let downs and failures.
My wish for you is that you will truly believe that everything happens for a reason, and though you may not see the meaning at the moment, you will come to realize the reason is for you to grow. Without failure, my dear, you would not have any mistakes to learn from. Without let downs and heartaches, you would never grow from experience or be forced to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
If everything were to go your way, you would simply lose your way. It may sound terrible of me, my love, but I hope you experience the worst of times, only measurable by you, as your experience of them. For without experiencing the bad, how will you ever truly see the joy and beauty in the good? How will you find yourself in the best of times, and fill your heart with embracement and gratitude for having experienced it? It is my greatest belief that without knowing the bad, the good will go unnoticed.
My love, when you find yourself met with life’s harsh realities of unfairness, failure, and heartaches, it is my dream you will not take the lesson in each for granted. That you, instead, will build from each of them and find greatness in discovering new practice.
It is what it is, my dear, but you have the power for it to become what you make of it. Do not waste precious energy and time dwelling in uncertainties and what-ifs; they will not get you very far. Take the moments for what they are, experience both the good and the bad to their fullest, and move on, knowing you will survive all the wiser, having been through them.
There is nothing wrong with hoping for the best as long as you plan for the worst. Then, you will find a balanced optimism sure enough to get you through the toughest of times.
Optimism is often looked to as being naive. Though, I find great discouragement in this sentiment, as I believe the opposite to be true. When you evolve into the drowning waves of pessimism, you lose the ability to see the light. Life is full of miraculous beauty, and believe me, my dear; there is beauty in the breaking.
To have everything come crashing down, falling into a fear so great that you will never come up for air, has a way of bringing your love of life to the surface. Hanging by a thread means you are finding a reason to hang on. It is often when we find ourselves low that we can see there is only going up from there.
Realize that optimism is not the belief nothing bad will come, nor the blind thought that everything will work out. It is more so the feeling that no matter what you are faced with, no matter how unbearable, you will find your way past this temporary affliction.
You will be able to rationally and calmly work through obstacles by mapping out a plan of action and making decisions toward breaking through barriers with strength, to meet every misfortune with the confidence of your ability to overcome them.
My love, I want you to dance. In any and all difficulties, I want you to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy a moment of joy. Not to ignore the situation at hand; more to break away and see that you still have very much to be grateful for, as well as the courage to get through anything set in your path.
I want you to be optimistic in this pessimistic world.
When one door closes, another one opens. Give yourself a fighting chance at happiness through the faith that every struggle worth breaking for is a moment to find worth living for.
I would like nothing more than for you to dance!
“Life isn’t about surviving the storm, it’s about how you dance in the rain.” – Regina Brett
Love you. Mean it.
Mom
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This post was submitted as part of a Joint Call for Submissions by and between GetConnectDad and The Good Men Project. GetConnectDad’s focus is on 52 traits we want to teach our kids. Author Stephanie Lowry chose to write this piece on Optimism.
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Parenting and family issues always have been a crucial area of focus for good men and women internationally. As parents, we can teach and empower each other, comfort and uplift each other through challenges, and celebrate each others’ milestones and joys! Participatory media including this website allow more people to be part of the conversation.
We are pleased to announce a new collaborative effort by and between GetConnectDad.com and GoodMenProject.com.
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What is GetConnectDAD?
GetConnectDAD is a group of parents from around the world who are committed to becoming more connected to their children through a simple message: More quality time as a family results in more connected kids.
What started off as a simple writing exercise has grown into an international team who are writing on a simple series: “52 Traits We Want In Our Kids.” Each week our parents answer the question, “What do I want my child to learn from me this week?” By adopting 5 Habits, they are striving to create a more connectDAD family. These habits are:
1) Devote 1 extra hour solely focused on your children this week.
2) Read a story or have a story read to you by your children this week.
3) Take a walk OUTSIDE with your family this week.
4) Take 1 moment to say ‘I love you’ to each of your kids this week.
5) Take 1 moment to hug your child this week.
150 Authors, 15 Countries, Writing on 52 Traits We Want In Our Kids
Each week, parents from around the world are writing on a specific topic as part of a year’s worth of introspection on some key traits we want to consider for our kids. (Click to see our list of 52 Traits.)
We understand that no one can focus on 52 unique traits; however, we hope that parents are able to think about each of these ‘traits’ as they are introduced and consider what they are doing to introduce components to their kids.
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The Good Men Project is the only international conversation about the changing roles of men in the 21st century.
An excerpt from our About page: “The Good Men Project is a glimpse of what enlightened masculinity might look like in the 21st century,” the press raved when we launched. We had set out to start an international conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. And with over 5 million visitors coming to join in every month, it looks as if we’ve done exactly that.
TheGood Men Project was founded by Tom Matlack in 2009. Tom set out to collect men’s stories about the defining moments in men’s lives. What he discovered was that the connected idea between all the stories of the men that Tom talked to was that there was a moment when each man “woke up, looked in the mirror and said ‘I thought I knew what it meant to be a man. I thought I knew what it meant to be good. And I realize that I don’t know either.’”These are the types of stories about men that “change the writer and change the reader.”
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Our two organizations are partnering together on Calls for Submissions because our missions overlap and because we want to extend our respective conversations further. Each week, both sites will post the same joint call for submissions based on the intersection of GetConnectDad’s 52 Traits and GoodMenProject’s exploration of 21st-century masculinity.
Each week, parents from around the world are writing on a specific topic as part of a year’s worth of introspection on some key traits we want to consider for our kids.
Our writers answer the question, “What do you do to teach your kids about Empowerment, Generosity, etc?”
We understand that no one can focus on 52 unique traits; however, we hope that parents are able to think about each of these ‘traits’ as they are introduced and consider what they are doing to introduce components to their kids.
If you are a parent of young children and want to share your story, we would love to hear from you.
Submissions accepted will run in both online publications.
To submit to The Good Men Project, please submit here. If you have not previously submitted to The Good Men Project, please be sure to name Lisa M. Blacker as your preferred editor on the submission form. If you have an established editor at GMP, please be sure to name that person. Also be sure to indicate that the post is a GetConnectDad-GoodMenProject Call for Submission or “GCD-GMP Joint CFS”
To submit to GetConnectDad, please submit here . Please be sure to indicate that the post is a GetConnectDad-GoodMenProject Call for Submission or “GCD-GMP Joint CFS”
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Any Questions?
Feel free to send us an email:
Lisa.M.Blacker(at)gmail.com (Good Men Project)
JulianCaldwell(at)gmail.com (GetConnectDad )
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Join the conversation at The Good Men Project. Here’s how:
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Here are more ways to become a part of The Good Men Project community:
Request to join our private Facebook Group for Writers—it’s like our virtual newsroom where you connect with editors and other writers about issues and ideas.
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Are you stuck on what to write? Sign up for our Writing Prompts emails, you’ll get ideas directly from our editors every Monday and Thursday.
Join our exclusive weekly “Call with the Publisher” — where community members are encouraged to discuss the issues of the week, get story ideas, meet other members and get known for their ideas? To get the call-in information, either join as a member or wait until you get a post published with us. Here are some examples of what we talk about on the calls.
Want to learn practical skills about how to be a better Writer, Editor or Platform Builder? Want to be a Rising Star in Media? Want to learn how to Create Social Change? We have classes in all of those areas. Classes are included free of charge with our $20 a year Gold Membership.
However you engage with The Good Men Project—you can help lead this conversation about the changing roles of men in the 21st century.
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Photo credit: Pixabay
Such wonderful words for your little one. Raising kids is tough, but it sounds like you are doing great!
That is one of my favorite quotes! You have accompanied it by such a touching a read as well. I am practically in tears. I wish for nothing more than the same for my little ones.
All the feels <3 Everything I want for my kids and more. Thanks for sharing this beautiful piece!
What a beautiful post here! Our love for our kids is overwhelming! We all just want the best for them!
this is so beautiful!!! I am going to write a letter tonight… you have me inspired!
Beautifully written! Love it!
One Awesome Momma
Beautiful! I hope you really do give your children this letter one day.
One line right at the beginning that struck me was “I am your greatest mentor thus far.” Wow … that’s really something to think about, isn’t it? What a great (and a little scary) responsibility that is!
Have you read this to any of your children? If you did I’d love to know their response. I’m sure with a message like this you’re modeling it beautifully. My son is about to turn 2 and my hope is to show him that failure and difficulties are opportunities for growth as well. This is something I strongly believe in. And it defintely helps me stay optimistic. Very inspiring post.
Stephanie! This is absolutely beautiful and so close to my heart. I have a little one and he’s too little at the moment to see the realities and harshness this world has to offer. I want to hold in my arms forever and ever and never let him see the hurt, the brokenness, and the evil. But at the same time, I want him to learn to dance through the ugly and be happy through the storms. You have such a perfect perspective on this! Thanks for sharing, girl! 🙂
Such a Beautiful Post! I am a soon to be mommy and I already feel that I never want my child to experience any hardships in her lifetime, but I also know that these hardships are what make us stronger! Its just very difficult as parents to except this truth for our children! I loved this post!
That was amazing.