To those of you going through a really hard time, maybe parenting, or caring for an aging parent, or being single and wishing you weren’t, or whatever.
Some well meaning people are going to tell you to appreciate this time because one day you are going to wish you had it back.
It’s not true.
One day you are going to wish for one sliver of this back, but not the entirety of it. You’re going to wish for a momentary taste of it.
When your toddler is going through the terrible twos, you are going to want the joy of a tiny sleeping baby in your arms, but not the hours of crying and the sleepless nights. When your teenager moves out and the nest is empty, you are going to want the teenager who told funny stories about high school teachers, but not the constant power struggle or the anxiety and worry. We want those moments taken completely out of context. That season was 24/7, and it was hard and exhausting. Do I wish I could see my mom one more time, have a cup of tea with her, and hear her tell me how much she loved me? Sure. But that is taken out of the context of a season of constant care, hours of physical labor, and deep emotional fatigue. That season was hard and painful and three years later, I may miss my mom, but I don’t miss those days. I miss a piece of those days.
We all want to pick and chose the best moments to relive, but they come within a context, and it’s so easy to forget the context.
That hard thing you are going through is hard. You’re not going to want this hard thing back. Seriously, how bad must life be to want to go back to the hard thing? What your going to want is an airbrushed memory of a moment completely void of context.
Don’t feel bad when someone outside of your situation tells you to be grateful for this because you’re going to want it back. Smile and nod and appreciate that they are missing that single piece in the midst of your season. Count the blessings in the hard thing, but don’t worry.
You aren’t going to want this back.
