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“When our four kids were young, in grade school and dizzy with activities, I used to feel as though I was skiing out of control. I was making it down the steep, icy slope of life each day, but at dangerous speeds, and with much of the joy of raising kids overwhelmed by the clock.
Then I learned the joy of saying ‘no.’
No, we cannot make it to that lovely embassy dinner, or the Opera Ball; no, the laundry can wait until Monday; no, thanks, I cannot speak at your convention in New Orleans, I just want to be home with my kids that weekend; no to other fun things we would otherwise like to do; no to commitments we would have dreaded.
Every ‘no’ was a breath of fresh air.
My energy increased; we laughed and played and enjoyed the hours of the day so much more. Just as many of us now get a sugar high from de-cluttering a big closet or the playroom toy shelves, I felt the same thrill of victory every week that I pared down our schedules to what really, in the end, mattered most.”
– Ann Compton, White House correspondent. Mom to: Bill, 34; Ted, 33; Annie, 31; Michael, 29.
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