Post #8 in the Blog Every Day in May Challenge, 250 words or less. Prompt for May 8: A piece of advice for others.
My advice: Show appreciation. Telling someone, anyone—child, parent, friend, colleague, stranger—that you appreciate what they did can make a difference in a life. I think that mutual appreciation is a glue that can hold a marriage together when all else seems doomed to failure.
Recently I expressed this to a young mother who has four children ages seven and under. Her husband is a busy student but is extremely supportive when he is home. She realized that many times she just collapses and turns the children over to him.
So she decided to show appreciation for one of the many routine tasks he accomplishes. She thanked him for straightening the living room after the kids were in bed and he looked at her as though she had lost her senses. Slowly he said, “You’re welcome…” with great uncertainty as to her agenda. She left it at that, realizing that a thanks from her was so rare that he was suspicious. She wants to change that.
On the other hand, I work at this all the time. I said to Steve, “I think we show appreciation to each other a lot, don’t you?”
“I guess so,” he said. “I hadn’t really thought about it.” So perhaps too much appreciation makes it mundane, but in this case I’d rather err on the side of too much, not too little.
Challenge: Express appreciation four times each day. If nothing else, you’ll be looking for positives rather than negatives!
Jerry Gitchel
I find it’s much more rewarding to catch people doing the right thing. Like when they blog on a regular basis! Congratulations on your commitment.
Lanita Boyd
Oh, yes! One of my mantras to myself in the classroom was “Catch’em being good.” Thanks, Jerry.
Catherine
Loved your Musings.
Jack preached more than a few times that the old saying, “You don’t keep chasing a street car after you’ve caught it” doesn’t apply to marriage.
“Keep chasing each other and showing each other the same courtesies you did when you were courting.”
Jack and I have done this 56 years and it really works!
Have a happy day staying in love.