Don’t worry, be happy? That may be easier said than done...
Acceptance Commitment Therapy is about living in the moment and understanding life can be challenging but trying not to worry about it.
That’s what I gathered when I read about it in the dentist’s eclectic selection of waiting room magazines.
Unwittingly, I’d been employing the general idea of getting on with things despite life being a nightmare full of endless anxieties for a while.
As an illustration of this, the twins love to run wherever we are.
We put them on the ground, and they just sprint in one direction, like those little cars with wind up wheels.
For a while I’d spend time jogging behind, until one day I held my nerve and watched them disappear into the distance. Mentally, I accepted the anxiety, then thankfully, they stopped, turned around and looked for me.
They only started to sprint when I walked towards them, although I’m not sure what plan B was if they hadn’t stopped, because they were too far away for me to catch them.
We’ve now adopted a routine where they sprint, wait, and sprint again when I bumble up to them.
Annoyingly, I followed the same path on developmental milestones by purchasing an app telling me exact days they should be able to hit targets, and if they weren’t, consider referring
them to a medical professional.
They were blissfully unaware of this timetable for when they should be crawling, talking, or laughing and as a result failed to hit every deadline.
Thomas was so far behind the schedule with rolling onto his back, my phone had diagnosed him with a serious musculoskeletal disorder.
One day, he rolled over putting an end to a month of anxiety and frantic internet searching to ascertain his potential weakness.
At the moment, he’s struggling to say certain words, but he’s seeing a speech therapist and we’re trying to help him, so it’s pointless worrying.
At some point, he’ll say them correctly, and even if he can’t, Jonathan Ross has done alright and he still struggles with ‘r’.
Essentially life’s not perfect so it’s impossible to have perfect children and be perfect parents, therefore don’t waste time worrying about it because you can only do what’s best at the time.
I just need to remind myself of that every day because as the cliché goes, it’s easier said than done.