My Mom taught me a great lesson a couple of weeks ago. And, like most great lessons, it came wrapped up as a disappointment.
We were planning out my trip in December and since I was going to be in Singapore this week, I really wanted my Mom to join in. I also have a close friend visiting from home in any case and it would have made for a nice trip.
My Mom, however, said no. She’s been pretty stretched of late with work at school as well as an additional course on weekends. So, the thought of all this travel was not enticing. She said she’d much rather be 100% when I’m home than feel stretched and irritable in the time she spent with me.
I was disappointed at first.
A few moments later, however, I saw the lesson – she was just watching out for her energy. She wanted to make sure I had 100% of her when we met. Quality. Not quantity.
It all made sense. It’s one of those things I feel we’ve gotten wrong over time. There’s too much time management flying around, and far too less energy management. Everything in life needn’t be king size. Often, less is more. And less done better is definitely more.
Her lesson came back to me an hour or so go. This close friend was raring to go out and I was just not ready. I needed a bit of time to blog, catch up on a few emails and get set for what promises to be a long night with lots of fun planned.
Now, I could have gone ahead and spent time with him but it’s unlikely I’d have been happy or given him my 100%. He would have had my time in full but not my energy.
So, I did the hard thing of asking him to carry on without me for the first couple of hours. I’m done now with all my catching up and I’m happier. All set to give the rest of the evening my 100%! Let’s hope he agrees (haha).
Some of the best learnings are those that deserve to be re-learned time and again. Short, but meaningful is definitely one of them.
Thanks Mom, for the learning. Like many others things in life, you nailed this one!
A Learning a Day 