I loved this analogy that she game to them. She would celebrate with them every time they leveled up. She cheered them on constantly. I think about it every now and then. It helps me to notice when I last “leveled up”. Am I stuck in the same level and not progressing or am I consistently leveling up through the levels of life?

Recently one of my kiddos got a book. I honestly don’t know the name of it, but it has something to do with making your bed. The purpose of the book is to help you make small adjustments to your daily routine that help you make good habits in your life.

I’m not sure that my kiddo is on board with this process, but it has been helpful to me. In the process of reminding my child to remember to make their bed, I realized that it had been a long time since I was in the habit of making my bed.

I love to make my bed. I love the process of it. I love each step. Cleaning and organizing are my calm place. It helps me think through problems and worries. I also love how my bed looks when I am done. It is so inviting and beautiful. I am so glad that this small addition to my child’s routine helped me too.

Lead by example. In the discussions with our therapists, it is called modeling. Model the behavior that you want your children to have by doing it yourself. They watch you closely. They learn so much from us parents. They can learn impatience, anger, mean words and phrases and/or they can learn love, patience, empathy, kindness service and much more.

I often reflect on what I am modeling to them. It is obvious because as I model anything, it soon makes the rounds in the house. I have to humble myself often and reset frequently when I am tired or exhausted.

This week we have a lot of big appointments. I have to drive hours to a specialist and then when I get home, I am bombarded with anxious children that want to get finished with school in time for their much-needed electronic time. It gets a little intense as they all seem to need my help with the last of their schoolwork.

I’ve learned that as I am in a place where I am overwhelmed, the best thing to do is to let me children know where I am at. I tell them, “Hey, I’m really tired and I might not be as patient today.” Or “I need to help this child first because they need more help from me. I know that if you slow down and go back to the lesson, you can see what you need to do.”

They know immediately that I am putting a boundary down and they respect it. It also helps them to draw up some courage and ground themselves a little more. It helps them become more in tune with themselves and not so dependent on me for their achievements.

In this make your bed book, the goal was for my child to consistently make their bed for a week. Once that goal had been accomplished, the next chapter could be read, and the next goal made.

I have thought about this a lot lately. Sometimes it feels like it takes forever to reach a goal. There are distractions and things that come up along the way that might prevent us from reaching that goal in our time frame. We might feel like giving up altogether.

Satan loves when that happens. He loves to tell us how we are such a failure. We will never be anything worth loving. We can’t even make our bed. Why bother with anything else! It is just too hard.

You know what God tells us? He says, I see where that was a difficult thing to do today. Don’t worry, tomorrow is another day. I know you can do this. You are capable of so much more than you know. I am here cheering you on. Remember I love you. No. Matter. What.

I’ve made some really big changes in my life. I am so grateful that I did. I remember several times thinking about my future with complete despair and anguish. Satan spoke to me a lot in those days. It was hard to ignore him. He speaks to me much less now. It has become easier to recognize his whisperings. They are not of the light.

I have changed the way the I pray and talk with Heavenly Father as well. It is less perfect and reverent, and it is more frequent and relaxed. I speak with Him as if I am talking to my own earthly father. It has been very special to me. I leveled up in my prayers.

Sometimes, we need a push to level up. Heavenly Father will send you little pushes or helpful tips. We can ignore them and stay stuck in our current level of life, or we can see them for what they are progress through that level.

In a video game, you have a challenge in the level. At some point, later in the game, you will come across that same challenge you had struggled with before. Life can be like this too. A challenge that you went through before can become a challenge to you again. Don’t worry. Have patience with yourself and with the journey. You did this before; you can do it again. You know how to get through that challenge this time because the first time you had to figure out how to do it.

And no matter what, He will be with you the entire time. Sending you little pushes and tips if you will accept them and loving you all the way.