I almost spent another sleepless night in the woods just to prove I could do it.
We went camping recently with other families from my kids’ school. The plan was to stay two nights.
But the baby was miserable the first night – crying, restless, waking up every couple hours. I spent the night trying to calm her while worrying about her waking up everybody else in the campground with her crying. By morning, we were both exhausted.
All day, I tried to make the best of it, but she wouldn’t nap with all the excitement. I knew the second night would be even worse.
Still, I felt stuck. The older kids were having fun and I had told them that we were staying two nights, so they would be disappointed and angry if we left. And I am not a quitter that gives up when things get hard.
Then my wife reminded me: “You are the parent. You can decide to just go home even if the kids don’t like it.”
So after dinner, we packed up and left. That night, we all slept well (the baby slept 14 hours and the big kids slept 12). It was absolutely the right call.
What’s amazing is how hard it was for me to make that choice. I knew what the right thing to do was, but I felt trapped by arbitrary self-imposed rules that I must keep my commitments, that I will suffer for my kids, that quitting equals failure.
So many of us stay stuck in situations that drain us because we forget that we’re allowed to choose differently. That is why I wrote You Have a Choice.
My book is on sale for Amazon Prime Days — check it out if you want to learn how to break free from the rules in your head and reclaim your freedom to choose. Link in the comments.