Think Before You Speak

August 20, 2019

…and listen to your feelings before you open your mouth. Most days I speak before I have even thought about what is going to come out. What happens then is my intention of saying something nice can be construed as negative or demanding. And that’s when the bickering or negative vibes begin.

I had one of those out of body experiences yesterday at my son’s football practice. I could see myself complaining about an away scrimmage during the week when I know that we have multiple other kids to get to activities. I didn’t want to sound like a negative Nelly but it sure came out that way.

Instead of being down on myself, I walked away from the conversation and flipped the script in my head to gratitude. I spoke to myself about how it is great that his coach is making them better by playing other teams. How he cares about the boys learning more about the game. How great it is to live in a community where they value our children and so on.

As I walked to the van, I felt much better about the one thing that was causing me anxiety. And how in the in the end, I realized that his season is only six weeks and we can do this.

Do you ever catch yourself speaking before really thinking about what you are going to say?