A few weeks ago my toddler and I were exiting the Dollar Store in a less than graceful manner. I was pushing the cart one handed and holding my bags, rolls of wrapping paper, and my toddler in the other. The door didn’t push open as easily as I expected it to, and at the same time I realized someone was trying to come in, my son escaped my grasp, bags dropped, and wrapping paper rolled. In the doorway was an older woman, and although I had wanted to hold the door open for her, she held it open for me, and helped me pick up my items while I got my kiddo. I said thank you and she responded with a big smile, “Make it a great day!” The phrase stuck with me all day and has ever since. Make it a great day. Not have a great day, but make it a great day. A subtle yet significant difference. Something tells me there is a lot of wisdom packaged in that lady’s short little sentence. Have a great day implies we don’t know how the day is going to go, could be good, could be bad. It’s a toss up. Make it a great day implies actively doing what will make this a great day. Don’t passively let your day happen to you. Choose to make it a good day or see the good in it, no matter what happens. Our attitude and mindset has so much to do with whether it’s a good day or not. Most likely it’s not going to go how we planned but it can still be good. Most likely you will drop your rolls of wrapping paper in someone’s walkway and chase your toddler into the parking lot. But it can still be a great day! You can make it a great day!
Now it’s summer, typically my favorite season, but this year, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. In fact, I may have been dreading it a little bit. The lack of structure and relaxed routine, the non stop sibling fighting, supervising multiple children around large bodies of water and trying to keep a toddler who won’t wear their floaties from drowning, it’s all a bit much. Of course, I’m exaggerating a little bit, but you get the idea. But then I remembered the lady from the Dollar Store, who casually said in passing, “Make it a great day” and thought, I really need to “Make it a great summer!” So much of how our summer goes directly relates to my attitude and mindset about it. Will there be sibling wars to break up? Yes. Will there be sand in every crevice of every car seat and will it make its way into every room of the house and between the couch cushions? Absolutely. Will we stay up too late and end up with cranky kids the next day? For sure. Fall behind on all the chores and feel overwhelmed with the buildup? Most definitely. Will my kids complete the summer school work I planned for them to do? Probably not at all. But, even factoring in the downsides, can I make it a great summer and not allow all the negatives to ruin it for me? Yes!! None of those things have to prevent me from making it a great summer. I can choose to make it a great summer despite the things I don’t like about it. The downsides don’t have to ruin it all together. So today, on the first day of summer, my encouragement is not to have a great summer, left up to chance and the right circumstances and hoping that things will go well, but to MAKE A GREAT SUMMER, through a decision to approach it with a good attitude and mindset, not letting the negative overshadow the good. Let’s MAKE IT A GREAT SUMMER!