February 2018 - SusanneKerns.com

Before You Get Angry at the WHAT, ask WHY?

Susanne Kerns Uncategorized February 21, 2018May 22, 2018

People are angry these days, and justifiably so.

The government is a mess, kids are getting shot in schools and the world just feels like a scary and dangerous place.

Unfortunately, the justifiable anger from some of these big-world-issues seems to be spreading into our small, every day personal interactions.

Cursing the guy who cuts you off in traffic and speeds off.
Starting a fight with the person who is being a “Sancti-Mommy” online.
Snapping at your kid because they forgot something important at school.

I’m not above it. We’ve ALL done it before. Heck, I have probably done it today.
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If I Can Run a Half Marathon, Anyone Can. No, Seriously – I’m a Mess.

Susanne Kerns Dusting Off My Parachute February 16, 2018May 22, 2018

Today’s F-It Friday is brought to you by the Austin Half Marathon whose motto should be: “The Austin Half Marathon: the race that’s impossible to train the appropriate 12 weeks for because the prior 12 weeks include Thanksgiving, Christmas, and every negative weather condition known to man.” (That wouldn’t really fit on a bumper sticker though.)

Thank A Teacher

Susanne Kerns Dusting Off My Parachute February 15, 2018May 22, 2018

I love teachers.

Sure, everyone “loves” teachers, but I LOVE teachers. I am in awe of their patience and grace under the pressure of handling the demands of 15x more kids than I’ve ever had to deal with, FOR SEVEN HOURS A DAY! EVERY DAY!

My favorite example: I was once visiting my daughter’s fourth grade classroom to take class photos for the yearbook. The class that her teacher team-taught was gathering, very enthusiastically, in the hall for a class trip to the Nutcracker. She came out to greet me, while nonchalantly holding a trashcan that a student had just puked in and simultaneously arranging escorts to take said student to the office and getting students filed off onto the bus.

To me, even just as a spectator, this experience was so traumatic that I’m still writing about four years later.

To her, it was Thursday.
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Kids > Guns

Susanne Kerns Parenting February 15, 2018May 22, 2018

Sorry, everyone – there won’t be anything funny posted here today. In fact, there will probably be a lot of completely unfunny things posted here.

You see, I just finally watched one of the many videos from the latest school massacre.

I have to admit, I was too cowardly to watch them yesterday. I was also too cowardly to watch them today, but one autoplayed in my Twitter feed and I saw it.

I didn’t want to see it, because I did not want to feel it.

I was afraid that if I saw it, and felt it, that would make it real.

Like a Schrödinger cat. I didn’t want to “open the box” and make 17 people die.

But I did see it.
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Let’s “Take Two” to Talk About Taking a Number Two

Susanne Kerns Dusting Off My Parachute February 7, 2018May 22, 2018

Today, in an exercise in efficiency, (and laziness,) I am combining Take Two Tuesday and Wish ‘n Well Wednesday into one handy post.

In my defense, there’s actually a good explanation for combining the two: My wish for your wellness is that you “take-two“….as in a #2

Yep, as in:

The inspiration for writing a post about going #2 appropriately came to me in the waiting room of my Proctologist, right about the same time I posted this on Facebook.

Monday ME-Search – Sharing Our Stories

Susanne Kerns Dusting Off My Parachute February 5, 2018May 22, 2018

I received two pieces of news this week, from near and far, about friends who lost loved ones very unexpectedly.

It has been weighing on me, and I thought about using it to guide today’s Monday MEsearch, but didn’t want to be too much of a downer. Then I remembered the post I did last year around this time as I was traveling to attend the funeral of a dear woman – my husband’s aunt, who I love so much I also claim her as my own. I don’t always believe in *signs* but it seemed like a pretty good hint that this is something worth taking a few moments for this week.

Say No So Someone Else Can Say Yes

Susanne Kerns Dusting Off My Parachute February 2, 2018May 22, 2018

Women are notorious for saying yes to things that they have neither the time nor energy for, (or even any interest in.)

Taking the volunteer position at school when your plate is already full.
Accepting an invitation to an event when you want a night off at home.
Taking a promotion at work instead of pursuing another field you’re interested in.

There are hundreds of articles out there trying to convince us to start saying NO to help with our sanity and stress levels, yet we continue to say YES because we’re more worried about letting someone else down than our own well-being.

After all, it’s hard to convince a people-pleaser to look out for their health and happiness when nine times out of ten, they will base their choice on what they think will make someone else happy.

Perhaps we’re thinking of this the wrong way.

What if when you say no, you are making someone else happy?

By saying no, you are giving someone else the opportunity to say yes.

Thank-Full Thursday – Thank You Notes

Susanne Kerns Uncategorized February 1, 2018May 22, 2018

Happy Thank-full Thursday – I’m thankful you’re here!

The most simple interpretation of Thank-Full Thursday is to say “Thank You.” Last week, we practiced saying proper thank yous to people during day to day interactions, (instead of just mumbling thanks while staring at our shoes), but this week we’re stepping it up a notch: there’s postage involved.

How much would you love it if you went to the mailbox today and there was a card in there from someone who you haven’t seen in months (or who you saw yesterday) that just said a simple “Thank You.”

Thank you for picking up my kid from school that time.
Thank you for telling me I had something in my teeth.
Thank you for always bringing your amazing cheese dip to parties.