Life Lessons from my Toddlers

Watching my babies grow has been the most beautiful and heart opening experience I’ve had and I’m so incredibly grateful for the two of them. Not only do they learn and grow and change a little bit everyday; but they’ve changed me and my perspective on life. They are my mini life coaches. If you’re paying attention, they have lessons to teach that most of us adults have forgotten. On this big search for purpose and fulfillment, you might start to realize at one time you had it all figured out too; before the rest of the world tried to tell you otherwise. You don’t need kids of your own for this realization; because you too were once a kid, once a toddler, full of life, joy, amazement and wonder. You dreamed big, and you believed from the bottom of your heart that your dreams would come true.

Lesson One: Confidence

I absolutely LOVE when my babies look at themselves in the mirror. They are so freaking happy to see themselves. They look and know they are without a doubt the cutest most beautiful spectacular sight they have ever seen. They are hilarious, they are smart and they love everything about themselves reflecting back at them. Their messy hair, the food on their face, their 40 leg rolls, mismatched clothes, all awesome! This is the kind of confidence we adults need to embrace even a little bit of. Look in the mirror and see your best qualities, know that you’re awesome, know that you’re beautiful, know that you’re hilarious. You are all these things and more and you can see it if you’re looking straight from your heart and not through the filter the world has put over your eyes.

Baby Steps to regaining confidence:

Stand Tall
Take deep breaths
Make eye contact and smile
Fake it until you make it (the more you practice pretending to be confident the more confident you will actually get!)

Lesson Two: Determination

No matter how many times each of my children fell on their butts, (or on their faces!) they still got up and kept trying to walk. They knew it was possible because they’ve seen me and their daddy do it, so they just kept trying. So many people count themselves out of something without even really trying it. Take running a marathon for example; “oh I can’t do that” because I’ve never ran before, I don’t have time to train, I’m too out of shape. (or insert any other excuse here) I can assure you that there are people out there running marathons right now who never ran before that race, who likely could have made just as many excuses or perhaps more. The difference is they decided they could do it, so they did. Your mindset is the biggest factor in whether or not you will succeed in what you set out to do. This can apply to anything, love, fitness, financial success. What ever it is you want to have, you’ll never get it by thinking you can’t.

Baby Steps to staying on track:

Be clear on where you want to go
Schedule it in you calendar
Keep a progress journal
Learn from any failed attempts (why didn’t it work and what can I change next time?)

Lesson Three: Gratitude

When I tell my 2 year old daughter we are going to the park, she literally cheers and jumps up and down with excitement. “Yey park!” If I offer her chocolate milk (a rare delicacy in our house) she says “tank you mama” with the biggest smile on her face and truly enjoys every single drop, when it’s gone she will even drip any remnant out of her straw into her mouth before she claims she’s “all done.” Every box delivered to the door is a new adventure, any animal running quickly through the yard a new thrill and every flower is magical and beautiful. She’s practicing gratitude, except it’s not a practice for her, it just comes naturally. This is such an important part of personal growth and we all had mastered it at one point in our lives. Truly appreciating what you have now and where you are now is fundamental before moving forward and stepping into the next best vision you have for yourself.

Baby Steps for expressing Gratitude: