Sometimes the healthiest thing to do is to let go. Not adding but subtracting. Quitting things that simply are not working is not failure. Staying with things that have no real possibility of improving can be our undoing.
The first person into our office Monday morning gave me a reality check. She had recently become guardian of two young nieces. I cannot remember if the mother of the children could not or would not care for them. Regardless, my friend took them into her life, and the life of her family. The girls came with baggage, lots of it. The older of the two, a 4 year old, has an attachment disorder. By the description, the child appears to be completely out of hand. I have no experience with this condition so I can scarcely imagine what the day to day looks like. Well apparently just about anything goes with this child. From what my friend explained, you cannot get close to this child or bond in any way. In one 24 hour period this child strangled the family cat, whipped the family dog, tried to run over the dog, gave her younger sister a concussion, and tried to stab my friend.
Needless to say after many months, my friend made the difficult decision to send the girls back to their home. She simply could not do it anymore. She seemed heartbroken and relieved at the same time. She said the foster parents had agreed to adopt the girls.
The next person through the door had spent the weekend secretly moving out of her house. She wanted a new start for her and her daughter and she was not going to tolerate abuse anymore.
The reality of others’ pain and suffering struck me.
Life is happening all around us.
The nitty-gritty kind of stuff.
What a great reminder to be grateful.
And to let go.
Blessings
KS