Eager to Please

I wasn’t surprised when our younger son and his family brought a lot of outdoor clothing with them when they recently visited us. It’s winter, the time of year for warm coats, hats, gloves and boots.

What did surprise me was that they left it all in a heap on the floor directly in front of the coat closet and the coat rack where my husband and I store our winter stuff.

I might not have minded if it weren’t for the fact that to get to my workspace I had to climb over the mini mountain of their stuff.

Maybe I should have said something as soon as they started dropping their stuff on the floor.

But instead of making a big deal of it, as I often did when our sons were young, I tried to be easy-going and just tried to clear a pathway for myself.

Too bad that wasn’t even remotely possible.

So I decided to clear my husband’s and my stuff off the coat rack and hang it in the closet to make room on the coat rack for the mini mountain of stuff on the floor.

When my husband saw what I was doing he told me he’d take care of it.

In the past, he might have ordered our son to put away his stuff. This time, he tried a different approach and it worked.

“It would make Mom really happy,” my husband said pleasantly to our son, “ If you would take all the stuff you dumped on the floor and put it in the big rolling duffle bag you left pinned underneath it.”

Without complaint, our son did as he was asked.

But the overstuffed duffle bag now blocked my way. So I tried to roll it to one side.

“Please leave it, Mom. I’ll take care of it,” our son told me and went on to put everything away.

What can you learn from this?

Sometimes it’s a worth trying a new approach to a situation.

There are 6 important takeaways for you to learn about interpersonal relationships that will help you with family and friends and at work.

  1. You need to pick your battles.
  2. Not everyone does things the way you want.
  3. If you change your attitude, others may change theirs for the better.
  4. Don’t get stuck in a rut. Why not try a new approach to a situation?
  5. Instead of always doing things the same way, why not try something new.
  6. Family and friends are part of who you are. Life is too short to lose the connection.

Only my very best,

BJ

P.S. Please let me know if you’ve ever been in a similiar situation. I’d love to know how you handled it. Send me an email at bjrosenfeld@gmail.com.
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PPS. Want less stress in your life? Send me an email at bjrosenfeld@gmail.com. Subject: Less stress