I often say that, “kids don’t keep,” or “babies don’t keep,” meaning that they are constantly changing and growing. Becoming something else than what they were six months ago.
I was reminded of this in my interview with Shane Torres that appeared last week on the Podcast, Live On Purpose Radio.
Shane lost everything that he had defined as making himself successful. It was gone, the house, the cars, etc. He learned that those things are not what made him successful, they weren’t even the really important things in life. The important things were his family, and his relationships.
I also recently had a few comments in YouTube about parents who do not see eye to eye on how to handle their children and a wedge starting to form between them.
It saddens me to hear this because one thing parents need to understand is that they are supposed to be working themselves out of a job.
Their kids are supposed to be growing up and leaving home. We are not supposed to be working ourselves out of our marriages. It does happen, but I wondered about the priorities of the parents and I can’t really know from a YouTube comment.
Kids and babies don’t keep and neither do our other relationships. There may be people that you were friends with 25 years ago who you still see, but I bet there are some that you don’t. Why? Interests changed, or locations, or focus. You grew apart. If you had nurtured the relationship, you might still be in contact now.
It is o.k. that friends come and go in our lives.
Think about the relationships that mean the most to you. Your spouse, your kids and your extended family.
Those relationships won’t keep either without nurturing.
Schedule some time today to do something with the most important people in your life. Stop on the way home and get some flowers or dinner. Ask what they want to watch on TV. Offer a foot rub. Do something to engage with the people that you want to be around in the next six months, the next year and all the following years.
Dr. Paul