Dear Jessica Brennan,

Way back when Dad and I were first together I came home from work after a day that could have been better, and Dad asked, “Was it a rough one?”

I thought about it and said, “Some of the minutes were rough”.  That made us both laugh and until this day, we often will ask about the minutes – was it bad for all of the minutes or just some of the minutes?

We use this phrase for many other things now too.  I will declare, “Leave me alone, I have to write,” and Dad will ask if I’m writing for all of the minutes, or just some of the minutes.  He can then gauge if he needs to occupy an entire day, or just a few hours.

It wasn’t until recently that I saw the wisdom in what had become just a silly thing to say.

So often we have a few bad minutes, maybe first thing in the morning, and we paint the whole day with the “awful” brush.  In fact, on reflection though, maybe most of the minutes were pretty good and only a few of the minutes were bad.

My advice Dear Jess is this, think about the silly little phrase you’ve heard your whole life and the next time you are overwhelmed, ask yourself, “Has the day really gone wrong for all of the minutes, or maybe just some of the minutes?”

Love,

Mum xo