Most of us are raised under the belief that life is about never giving up, especially in the pursuit of a long-term goal. However, there is value in knowing when to consider if this pursuit is worthy of your continued time and effort based upon the progress made and effort put in. It is a fact that our greatest leaders always knew when it was time to step down.
5 tell-tale signs it is time to step away:
1. Misleading Reinforcers: The one thing which keeps us directed towards our goals is when we receive some occasional positive feedback, even when the overall trend is clearly negative. These occasional positive rewards can be misleading in that they keep us hanging on, stuck in a pattern which never progresses past the reality of what we are losing.
2. Emotional Investment: When we continue behaviors directed at our goal with the mindset that we cannot give up because of all we have already put in, we are not evaluating the opportunity cost ratio logically. If there is no opportunity we are giving up our lives at a cost to pursue an opportunity that is not manifesting.
3. Financial/Emotional Loss: When the financial/emotional investment we are putting in shows little benefit, fear and anxiety dominate our thoughts because we want to stay in control of our losses. Our rational thinking shuts down not allowing us to let go. All we see is loss and this doesn’t fit the image of the dream we had.
4. No Gain: No matter how hard we try, no matter how much effort, blood, sweat and tears we put in, we cannot effect any change in our circumstances we must look to terminating our attachment to this particular goal. It doesn’t mean there is a failure it just means this is not the success we are meant to have.
5. Lack of Joy: When what we have been passionately loving and putting ourselves into no longer brings us joy, this kills motivation. Life becomes ground hog day each day. The purpose driven emotion experienced in the beginning has worn away to mechanical, every day, uninspired behaviors.
In reality surrendering a desired goal requires a huge leap of faith. When we anticipate an unknown future, a willingness to take a “failure,” along with the emotional devastation which accompanies our decision requires courage. Since persistence and staying-the-course are default settings for us, knowing when to step down takes a tremendous amount of emotional and mental gymnastics to make that final decision.
Little life message: Sometimes it is only through quitting something, especially if we’ve long been unhappy, which opens up our life to fresh, positive opportunities we were blocking by staying committed to what was not working.
Dr. Sherrie Campbell, PhD is a veteran, licensed Psychologist with two decades of clinical training and experience providing counseling and psychotherapy services to residents
Sickweather has launched the first major update to their iPhone app which was released last November and alerts parents in real-time when they enter Sick Zones: areas where illnesses are reported on social media. The latest version adds easy-to-read, local sickness forecasts and an element of crowdsourcing; allowing moms and dads to report illnesses directly and anonymously to the Sickweather map. Reports are then saved to their own ‘My Reports Map’ which can be used to track when and where they, or someone in their family, is sick.
“Sickness is one of the most disruptive events that can hit a household” says Graham Dodge, CEO of Sickweather, and father of three. “With Sickweather, parents can now check for the chance of illness as easily as they can check for the chance of rain.”
For example, when someone publicly posts ‘My kids have strep’ on Facebook or Twitter, Sickweather qualifies that report using a patent-pending process and then plots it on a map. If a Sickweather user travels near that report (whether they are dropping kids off at school or stopping by a cafe for a cup of coffee) they will get a real-time alert on their iPhone warning them of their proximity to strep throat, effectively making Sickweather the Doppler radar for sickness and the only real-time resource for disease surveillance available to the public. Parents can use the alerts as prompts to proactively wash hands, refill prescriptions, or restock the medicine cabinet with their favorite remedies.
About Sickweather: Sickweather, a Baltimore-based company, provides online reports and an iPhone app that scans social networks for indicators of illness, and maps real time data on more than 23 different symptoms and illnesses. For more information, please visit: http://www.sickweather.com
Springtime rings in warmer weather, as well as family fun outdoors to enjoy bike rides, BBQs and ball games. For the 50 million Americans[1] who suffer from all types of allergies, springtime also kicks off allergy season. A healthy immune system is the best way to fight off sickness throughout the year, but what are the best ways to combat the runny nose, watery eyes and overall congestion that wreak havoc on so many? Dr. Travis Stork, ER physician and host of the Emmy® award-winning talk show “The Doctors,” has partnered with Church & Dwight Co., Inc., the maker of ARM & HAMMER™ Simply Saline™ nasal mists to share his Top Five Tips to Ring in Spring for a healthy & congestion-free season.
·Keep it Simple and Natural. Nearly 43% of adults are congested year-round. The overuse of over-the-counter nasal decongestants can actually cause your congestion to return much worse than when it first appeared. Using products that are drug-freeand derived from natural ingredients, such as ARM & HAMMERTM Simply SalineTM Nasal Mists, can be extremely effective in clearing nasal congestion without side-effects.
·Know When to Work Out. Staying active and exercising for at least 30 minutes a day is a great way to fight off illness, but for allergy sufferers, be sure to plan workouts accordingly. Pollen counts are highest between 5am-10am, so it’s best to plan a time of day when pollen levels are a bit lower.
·Allergy-Proof the House. Allergens exist indoors and outdoors, so take steps to make your home allergy-proof. A simple way to keep allergens at bay is to wipe your feet and take off your shoes when entering the home. You can also prevent mold by keeping the indoor air dry with a dehumidifier and remove allergens by cleaning the floors with a vacuum that has a HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter.
·Mind the Kids. Congestion-causing allergens are everywhere – on the bus, in the park, on our clothes and even in our hair. To avoid any impact on your family fun this spring – especially for the little ones – keep congestion remedies on hand, like ARM & HAMMER™Simply Saline™Baby Nasal Relief for both infants and kids.
·Wash Away Those Allergens. Suffer from allergies? Don’t ditch your favorite outdoor hobby, ditch the allergens stuck to clothes, bedding and bags. After a day in the garden, at the ballpark or family picnic, remember to wash clothes, bedding and bags as often as needed.
As parents we must teach our children the realities of life. Life hurts us, people hurt us, we hurt other people and we hurt ourselves. That is what relationships and life are about. The sooner we let our children in on this secret the healthier their life-approach will be. We must teach that life is not built to be fair. The relationships our children have will, for certain, be their greatest teachers of love and pain. They will never need to use forgiveness more than in their relationships. Forgiveness is many things but we also must teach that forgiveness doesn’t always mean reconciliation. It is not about condoning harms which have been done. Forgiveness is about taking power back.
5 Ways to empower our children:
1. Let go of the need for closure: When we have been hurt, we want people to be sorry for what they did. We get so hooked into this that we put our happiness on hold until we get this “apology.” Our children need to understand these apologies rarely come, and each day they are waiting to feel good until they get the apology they believe they need is another day wasted on a person who doesn’t deserve their headspace. Closure comes from within and in their ability to let go and move on.
2. Accept what has been done: What is done is done. They have already been hurt, the assault has happened and no amount of their anger or sadness can or will change that. We have to teach them that when they can accept there is no way to reverse the damage then they can move on and not give any more time to something they cannot change. This liberates and brings them the power to determine their own worth back to them.
3. Grateful thinking: It is important to teach the “sliver-lining” theory to our children. There is positive thinking and negative thinking, each which can be an extreme path to take after we have been hurt. There is something disingenuous about a strictly positive thinker because life is hard and to be positive all the time is not realistic, and to be consumed in negative thought is simply a lack of effort. Grateful thinking is that middle ground where we teach our children to accept life on life’s terms and to find the good in the painful and in the wonderful.
4. Forgiving is a verb: We need to teach the importance of time to our children when they have been hurt because hurts don’t usually heal quickly. Forgiveness is not an event it is a process. Their feelings are going take time to process and they need to know this is ok. Their emotions are healthy and they, like us, need to experience the full range of emotions when they have been betrayed before they can get clear about what they need to do next.
5. We come through every hurt stronger: If we can show our children that how things are supposed to be and how they turn out is often very different this will help them develop a realistic and mature view on life and people. With each hurt our children have the opportunity to turn a grievance into a success. We must show them their emotions are natural and that they grow the most by being more human (feeling emotions) not by being less human (acting like they don’t care).
We owe it to our children to teach them that forgiveness is the continual process of understanding that no matter how much they want to have life lived according to their ideas of fairness that it isn’t that way. When they can see forgiveness doesn’t always mean taking a person back who has hurt them they can breathe. All forgiveness means is accepting that what happened cannot be changed and no amount of their pain, anguish or anger is going to undo what was done.
Little Life Message: Teach your children that their best revenge is to move on and find their happy.
Children’s nasal congestion is a problem that every parent has to deal with at some point. Especially with the spring here, there is a good chance that parents will have to contend with this issue at least for a few days during the season. A challenge for parents is finding effective ways to help their children breathe better.
The good news is that the more parents know about nasal congestion and what to do about it, the better off the baby will be. Here are 6 things every parent needs to know about nasal congestion:
It’s common. Nasal congestion is a common condition among children. The problem is that with babies it can have a serious impact on feeding and sleeping, while with older children it is usually just an inconvenience.
Beware bulb syringes. The blue bulb syringe that the hospital sends you home with after delivery, like everything in the hospital, is meant to be disposable. Instead, we reuse them over and over again, exposing our children and their siblings repeatedly to the germs we just removed from their noses. Bulb syringes can often not be cleaned out and are just not that effective at removing nasal mucus.
Reasons vary. Nasal congestion can have many different causes, including common cold, flu, sinus infection, and allergies. Incidence of allergy soars in the spring, resulting in many more children with nasal congestion.
Swollen membranes The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that congestion is often due to swollen mucus membranes and it creates a situation where the mucus has difficulty passing through the swollen area. While swollen membranes will not be addressed by nasal aspiration, removing excess mucus can still provide significant relief in children.
Possible interference. Babies breathe through their noses during the first few months, often referred to as ‘obligate nose breathing.’ According to the NIH, nasal congestion can interfere with other things, such as sleep, nursing, hearing and speech development.
Using effective treatments. Many products on the market are not all that effective in helping to clear nasal mucus in children. Choosing the right product makes all the difference. For example, the Baby Comfy Nose nasal aspirator, available at all Walgreens retail locations, is the most effective method to remove deep nasal mucus and is easy to use.
