I guess I’m a ‘half-empty’ type of person.  The many years in the corporate world had turned me (and some of my ex-colleagues) into cynical and sceptical people.  So we functioned in negative mode.  It all got too much for me and so I freed myself from the chains last year.  I have never felt better since. 

I think I’ve yet to correct myself – back to ‘positivity’, as the following experience with Little Guy shows.

Little Guy at 3 years of age told me that he doesn’t want me to grow old.  The first time he said it, I went, ‘Awwww… how sweet’.  But then he had gone on to say this many times since then.  I was getting worried, ‘cos he had said that he didn’t want to grow old too.

I thought the cause of his phobia was my mum, his grandma, who has grown very frail of late.  She had also been in and out of hospital and is not very mobile.  I had explained to Little Guy that grandma is old.  This could be why he doesn’t want me to grow old.

At first I explained to him that everyone grows old, even him.   He would ask ‘why?’, and I would explain that it is the cycle of life.  Of course he can’t grasp the concept yet.  In order not to alarm him any further, each time he said ‘I don’t want you to grow old’, I would say ‘I will try’.

But then again, he gets very excited when I talk about his birthday.  I did tell him that he will grow older by 1 year each time he celebrates his birthday.  When he heard the word ‘older’, he would say, ‘I don’t want to grow old’!   Sheesh!  I thought there must be a better way to get through to him!

Then I remembered that he has been looking forward to growing up so that he can get on those rides in theme parks.

So I tried this on him:

Me:   Do you want to grow up?

Little Guy:  Yes!

Me:  So you don’t want to grow old but you want to grow up?

Little Guy:  Yes mummy.

That was sort like a ‘eureka!’ moment for me.  Why didn’t I think of that before?!  I really have to adjust back to being more positive – now that there are no more bad bosses for me to gripe about and no more shitty work.

Only this sunshiny Little Guy.

I have much to learn… let in the sunshine!