Overheating

Today it cooled off a little bit--all the way down to 97. I don't know what the heat index was, I've kind of stopped counting. I know it was hot and humid; 86 and stifling at 8:30 am when I dropped my daughter off at the rink. The heat and the humidity is draining, and I'm not very good at coping with the heat, though I've been a lot less cranky than I otherwise might. It helps to have window air conditioners.

But in other ways I've been "overheating."

I rather lost my temper with my daughter yesterday after a few days of seeing her less than happy about going skating--I reasoned (unreasonably I realize) that we were here so that she could skate.  But she was going through some growing pains, making some tough decisions about staying in Minneapolis to train, and having to give up some other important things to her. So she was feeling the pressure of those things. It wasn't a pretty parent moment initially when I suggested she needed a shift in attitude. But we managed each to cool down after our altercation. I suggested to her that she needed to dig deep, find in herself the resources to put aside the difficulties that would be sorted out in time, and leave it behind when she stepped on the ice. She stayed shut down for a little while, but eventually made a shift. And today, while she still struggled some on the ice, her attitude was much better. She was still hard on herself, but she let go of the negativity pretty quickly. I felt really happy for her--that she could move through something that, even just a year ago, she had hung on to for days.

Now, if only I could take some of my own advice. Be a little less hard on myself, and dig deep and draw on my resources, and make a shift in attitude.