As she sat on the couch, recalibrating her commitments, the doorbell rang. On the stoop was a friend she hadn’t seen in a long time, bearing red velvet cupcakes.
As they caught up over tea and indulged in those little delights, she realized it was the shared enjoyment of the cakes themselves that got her baking in the first place.
Ooh, thank you for this, Jenny! I've been listening to Natalie Lue's "The Joy of Saying No" lately. If I remember correctly you had interviewed her on one or both of your poecasts. It keeps coming up (again and again) how I *must* learn to disappoint people in the moment and realize their feelings are their business, rather than to feel resentment about my over-commitments. Of course for elder parents, this seems even more intense. But I'm also *finally* recognizing the familial patterns that led to these habits. Life-school is neverending... 😹
Ooh, love that you're listening to Nat's book!! It's soooo good, as is her Substack. I feel this so strongly with family too . . . it's really intense, and there's such a swirl of feelings involved (I feel an added sense of judgment, guilt, people-pleasing, etc that kick in). Tell me about it re: never-ending life school . . . 😭 And the same lessons that spiral around and up and over themselves until we learn every little nuanced corner of them 🤪
As she sat on the couch, recalibrating her commitments, the doorbell rang. On the stoop was a friend she hadn’t seen in a long time, bearing red velvet cupcakes.
As they caught up over tea and indulged in those little delights, she realized it was the shared enjoyment of the cakes themselves that got her baking in the first place.
Ooh, I love this addition to the story!! So good!! This can be the epilogue 😍🙏🧁🫖
Brilliant analogy.
Ooh, thank you for this, Jenny! I've been listening to Natalie Lue's "The Joy of Saying No" lately. If I remember correctly you had interviewed her on one or both of your poecasts. It keeps coming up (again and again) how I *must* learn to disappoint people in the moment and realize their feelings are their business, rather than to feel resentment about my over-commitments. Of course for elder parents, this seems even more intense. But I'm also *finally* recognizing the familial patterns that led to these habits. Life-school is neverending... 😹
Ooh, love that you're listening to Nat's book!! It's soooo good, as is her Substack. I feel this so strongly with family too . . . it's really intense, and there's such a swirl of feelings involved (I feel an added sense of judgment, guilt, people-pleasing, etc that kick in). Tell me about it re: never-ending life school . . . 😭 And the same lessons that spiral around and up and over themselves until we learn every little nuanced corner of them 🤪
❤️
That moment where you realize where the story is going… 🤯