Being Complacent vs Being Inspired
Several weeks ago in church our Pastor urged us not to be
complacent in life- his words were insightful and stayed with me far beyond the
hour attention it required. I started recognizing areas that I had become
routine with my spiritually as well as a mom, wife, daughter and friend.
Although I did not make huge changes I tried to be aware of how complacency
could be a downfall of mine if I let it.
You see when you have a child with special needs especially
a child with Autism your routines are what save you. You go thru very predictable
steps each day so that they know what to expect and to help you manage whatever
protocols you are in the midst of. Routines have saved us from terrible tantrums over
the years and kept me on schedule with supplements and medicines. But complacently
is born from routines.
When we started this journey, I was an addict to new found
knowledge, I wanted to learn it all and implement everything. With each gain we
made, I wanted to add more knowledge and more to our protocols for Lindsey.
Somewhere along the way learning, implementing and studying became replaced
with documenting and celebrating. We were thrilled to have had the initial huge
gains and were quite happy to see the slower abilities come into focus. The
pace slowed but our satisfaction and pride in new found abilities made me very
complacent in pursuing more.
This weekend I had the opportunity to go to a TACA conference.
It was very exciting to attend, many of the doctors presenting are doctors I
had read about and followed, the information washed over me as a wave of enthusiasm.
I felt energized and encouraged. Some of the new research is beyond fantastic,
there are new correlations and ideas, things that can change the course of many
of our kids lives.
All of our kids’ journeys are different and as I have said
before- what works for one child may or may not for another. We are all at
different points in recovery and some steps may feel huge but the reward could
very well be worth it.
My inspiration for writing today is simply to encourage you
all to try to step away from the complacency that comes too easily to us and
find some new challenges, find something else to try to investigate and to be
excited by. Our kids recovery and every time they learn something new is the
most amazing reward- don’t cheat yourselves or them out of finding new levels
of success together.
I realized this weekend that I needed this conference to
inspire me to do more, I had rested on a protocol that has been working rather
than adding to it. Lindsey has made wonderful gains and I hope to relay in the
near future even more exciting accomplishments.
