74: Little Jolt of Joy – Don’t Fight the Current

Don’t Fight the Current

A little jolt of joy today about not fighting the current, prompted by a genuinely full season in my own life. School is winding down, which for any parent means a wave of extra events regardless of age, end-of-year parties, teacher appreciation, final projects, prom, banquets, finals schedules that upend the normal school day. On top of that, I have one son moving out of his dorm and another graduating from college the same stretch of days, with family visits and logistics to coordinate around both.

Catching myself fighting it

I noticed I’d worked myself into a low-grade anxious tailspin over how much was shifting all at once, worrying about how each piece would affect the next, whether everything was properly lined up. And then I stopped and realized how strange that was. This is an exciting, bittersweet, once-in-a-lifetime stretch in my kids’ lives, and I was at risk of rushing past it while stressing over logistics instead of actually being present for it.

Questioning the productivity-system approach

We’re constantly told the answer to busy seasons is more systems, more routines, better lists. But some seasons of life simply aren’t routine, and treating them as something to be boxed up and optimized can work against actually living through them. What if, instead, you leaned into the current and rode it? I’ve noticed that my energy tends to rise to meet what a season actually demands. Adrenaline kicks in, the important things get done, and what doesn’t get done probably didn’t need to.

A small example from the school run

Driving my daughter to school recently, stuck in traffic, I thought about how an efficiency-minded outsider might ask why I’m not just putting her on the bus, calling the drive time wasted. But if the real goal is staying close to my kids, some of the most honest conversations happen exactly in those unplanned moments in traffic, a song triggers a comment, a stray thought gets shared because there’s nothing else demanding attention. If connection is the actual objective, that time isn’t wasted at all, whether or not it looks efficient on paper.

A parallel from babies and growth spurts

Think about how much effort goes into establishing a baby’s eating and sleeping schedule, only for a growth spurt to blow through it entirely, more sleep, more hunger, for a stretch, until their body settles into a new rhythm. Nobody fights that shift, you ride it out and adjust. I like the word rhythm better than routine for exactly this reason, it implies something you move with rather than something you impose.

Matching the slower current too

When a busy season winds down and life slows, summer arriving, for instance, match that current as well. There’s a pull to fill sudden extra time with more tasks and chores just because it’s available. Instead, let everyone rest into that calmer stretch, especially at the start, rather than immediately filling it back up.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.