Time is a funny thing. It feels like just yesterday my youngest son was teetering off to kindergarten with a backpack almost as big as he was, and last week he walked out the door for his first day of senior year. When my kids were little, the days could feel endless—full of snack requests, meltdowns over the “wrong” color cup, and bedtime negotiations. And yet, woven through were the moments of pure magic: sticky kisses, contagious giggles, and the wonder of seeing the world through their eyes.
Now, with teens, the challenges have changed: navigating independence, late-night worries, and the bittersweet art of letting go. But there’s joy here too—deep conversations, shared humor, and watching them step into the people they’re becoming. And just like that, the years compress into a blur—time telescoping, stretching, and shrinking in ways that catch me off guard.
And maybe that’s the quiet gift of Positive Reframing. It doesn’t deny the struggles or try to speed past them. It helps us see that joy and challenge can often arrive together. That every season, whether it’s full of Lego towers or late-night talks, holds something worth cherishing.
Where does this both/and show up for you? Maybe:
- In work that drains you, yet fills you with purpose.
- In holding grief in one hand and gratitude in the other.
- In watching a chapter close while another one quietly opens.
- In feeling the ache of change right beside the excitement of possibility.
Life rarely gives us one emotion at a time. The invitation is to hold them together—to let the bittersweet teach us something about what matters most. No matter how quickly or slowly time moves, there is always beauty to notice and meaning to be found in the in-between.
It’s the lesson parenting has been teaching me all along—that life is the journey, not the destination. The magic isn’t only in the big milestones, but in the countless small moments along the way: bedtime stories and belly laughs, car-ride conversations and shared glances that say more than words.
Because whether it’s raising a child or exploring the world, the richest part of the experience is living fully in the journey itself—and noticing the moments along the way that make it worthwhile.
What (potentially contradictory) feelings are you holding today?
With Resilience,
Kristie and the Dovetail Team