My mom rarely set punishments. I was never grounded.
Once, when I was somewhere around 8, I got lazy and didn’t go home to check in at the appointed time. A couple of hours later, my mom found me down in the yard of the local school. Her voice was strained, like she was trying to speak through a straw. I think she reprimanded me. And then she told me I needed to play inside for the rest of the day. I don’t recall it as a punishment, but I do recall feeling guilty since I knew I’d been naughty and made her worry when I could have just walked up the street and told her I was okay and gone back to playing. That was, after all, why I was wearing my lovely red watch.
Yet, somehow along the way, even without grounding, I learned my lessons. Don’t drive after 1am if you don’t have to: you’re too tired, you’ll probably hit a deer, and you’re more likely to get hit by a drunk driver. Always get pierced somewhere reputable, with clean instruments. Always save your video games: you’ll have to quit before you’re done and go get dinner. Keep a journal. Midwives are great. Stand up for yourself. Chocolate is so worth it. Take risks, with caution.
And, my all time favorite: “Sometimes good enough, is enough.”
Well, my mom may never have grounded me, but I had to ground myself to learn a lesson this week. And I learned it. It was rough. Here was the deal:
One week of no blogging, no blog-stalking, no message-boarding, no surfing. Essential emails only.
I broke the rules once or twice. I posted on my mom’s group message board a couple of times: I was snowed in with a sick kid and really needed more apple juice. I would consider it essential. I worked on a blog, but it was for work, so I considered it essential since it wasn’t part of my mom blogging. I surfed a couple times but only for something specific that I needed to know, and then I closed the browser as soon as I found the answer.
It was rough.
But productive.
Really productive, actually. Even with a sick kid, and now sick myself, I still got all my chores done and crossed a few things of the life to do list as well. And I still got to bed on time, finished a book, and watched a movie.
I’m not sure what my new rules will be nor do I think I need to create any. Just a little more self-awareness and self-control will do.
Lesson learnt, mom.
