Last week my wife and I welcomed our 4th child into our family. Words cannot describe the special feeling I get adding a child to our family. My heart has been made bigger and it will take me a sometime to re-learn how to sleep.
What I’ve learned from this experience is actually a reminder of a pattern I’ve seen in my life multiple times. It is the most visible after the birth of each of our children.
Having a child disrupts all routines and sense of normalcy for me and my wife. Nothing matters to us as much as helping the baby grow and be healthy, especially in the first few weeks. This means all routines, including sleep routines are destroyed or turned upside down.
On the one hand, this is frustrating and difficult. I work hard to build a system in which my wife and I can operate and learn to be our best. When that system is disrupted it is feels like a heavy burden.
On the other hand, this type of disruption is an opportunity to reevaluate the system in which I operate, recognize the changes, and adapt and optimize given the new reality.
The pattern is simple.
Viktor Frankl’s words highlight this pattern in a different way.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor E. Frankl
This week what disrupted me was the birth of our child. For you, the disruption is likely something different. What has disrupted you?
I invite you to think about how you are responding and to act and not be acted upon.
