Being a parent is the toughest job/assignment ever. Now with adult/semi-adult children it is not the sleepless nights I’m thinking about (that’s perimenopause) and it’s not the agonizing conversations explaining the most fundamental logic things to the “not the sharpest tool in the shed” teenager.

No, for me the absolute toughest part of being a parent has been the worrying. 10 years back I noticed that my worrying was not beneficial to me (surprise) and reached out to a therapist. I don’t remember what I was told, but my anxiety decreased. Today I still worry, but I can “control it” by acknowledging it and talk about it. The Mr, who is the one who gets the vast majority of my thoughts, is a great help. He very seldom worries and just him saying, “it will work out” gets me on the right track (strange that me telling myself the same words doesn’t give the same effect…).

Currently, I don’t worry about anything in particular, except the fact that the world is run by aggressive, limitless, selfish people with only one aim only – to gain personal powers and wealth and limit others’. But really, I alone can not fix this, so this I shrug off.

When my mum asked me if I worried about Sam, who right in this moment sits 36.000 ft above Kumarina on his way to Brisbane, I knew I wasn’t. I’m not worried about him and his trip. But I at the same time I do sense something, something that in its nature reminds me of worry.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s sprung from me wanting my children to be alive. To live. We don’t know how long time we get on this planet, but we must make the most out of it. What that is, is naturally very personal.

Personally, I’m convinced that you won’t find it infront of a screen. I don’t. I think the screens are great. We can get so much insights, friends and knowledge through them. But we must understand that life is “not either or”, it’s “both and”. My personal belief is that by being curious about other people and places and the willingness to explore them in the flesh, also explores yourself, in a completely different way than staying in your apartment. It’s in the interactions with nature and humans things happen.

And if you say no to the possibilities of life out of fear, the loss is even greater. Fear must never decide anything. I want my children to understand (through their own actions, not my words) that they have all the capabilities they need to face the unknown. That the unknown is not something scary, it’s an opportunity. But to do so, they must leave their comfort zone.

So I guess I do worry, I worry that they limit themselves based out of fear.

So, to my children: when I ask (or push) you to leave your comfort zone. I do it, so you can grow and become better versions of yourself. It’s my way of loving you ❤️.