We were on our way home from a long day of shooting. That’s when I felt my phone vibrate. “I just want to prepare you for something” is how the text started. Wondering what in the world could be going on, I continued reading. “We were in the store today and Paislee saw a baby crying in his shopping cart. She said that he was sad and that he needed a ‘das’.” (For those of you who aren’t familiar with what a das is, it’s our daughter, Paislee’s, name for a pacifier.) “I asked her if she wanted to share her das with him and she said “YES!” So when we got home, we collected all of her dases, put them in an envelope, and mailed them off to the baby!”
Just as Erica felt that Paislee wasn’t ready to get rid of the das, Tina (Erica’s mom), knew that Erica was the one who wasn’t ready for Paislee to get rid of the das. Erica had struggled with the idea of cutting Paislee off from her das and expressed that over and over to Tina. It was her constant comfort, it helped her fall to sleep quickly at night, and let’s face it, it kept her quiet when otherwise she might have been throwing a fit!
It was her plug.
It helped her in more ways than one, but it was easily becoming apparent that it was starting to serve as a disadvantage for her. For whatever it’s worth and for whoever it might be helpful to hear this – Paislee would resort to her das during mealtimes if she wasn’t getting to eat what she wanted and that wasn’t any help with trying to encourage healthy eating habits for her. She became too content with sucking on her das and watching a cartoon in place of getting creative and playing with toys or working on crafts. And oddly enough, it aided in her giving us A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E. We know that every kid has it, but it was something about being under the comfort of her das that made her extra comfortable in being sassy!
Tina knew she had the freedom to step in and help with this matter because not only do we have an incredibly close relationship, but she’s the nana. The nana with magical powers when it comes to stuff like that… or when it just comes to just about anything! We once heard a successful entrepreneur give a talk on outsourcing strategic things for your business in order to continue to grow and be successful. Well, we just like to think that we outsourced this for our personal life’s success too!!
Taking the das from Paislee…well, truthfully it was more like taking the das from Erica. But here’s the secret. It really wasn’t as big of a scary problem as she was convinced it would be. The first night, Paislee cried for it, but it was nothing that laying in bed beside her and telling her stories couldn’t fix!
Over the next couple of days, Paisless would routinely asked Erica to go check the front door to see if the baby was done with her das and had returned them. As much as that broke Erica’s heart, she realized that it was okay for Paislee to realize and sense the change that was taking place.
She was uncomfortable for a short while.
She had to learn how to adapt to the change of not having a das to run to.
She had to find a way to fill that void, but it got easier and easier and she grew as a result of it.
Her growth in maturity became that much more evident and it proves that it was the right time for her to make that change!
Doesn’t this sound a lot like things in our own adult lives too? Or for our fellow business owners, doesn’t this sound extremely relatable to situations within your business? Or in your life when making that switch to becoming a business owner? So many things seem big and scary to us at first. We paint a much bigger picture in our heads than what is really even there.
We’ve never been huge fans of change, but we’re currently living through the biggest change of our lives! And just like Paislee adapting to a “das-free life”, we’re adapting to the changes in our lives. And we’re not just adapting to them and tolerating them, we’re embracing them and growing and soaring to new heights!
If you need to seek out someone who can be that Nana for you, that’s ok. We all need help and encouragement along the way, but don’t fear the situation!
It’s all going to work out. The first night or the first week or the first month or even the first year might be difficult! But as time goes on it will get easier. Embrace the change with everything you have, and watch yourself grow.
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