Another way of putting it: when the computer is in the midst of crashing, sometimes it's a good idea to simply hit the reboot button and start again from scratch.
I seem to have regular times in my life when everything is really piling up, mentally and emotionally, and it is discouraging. What seems to help quite a bit is just giving myself a free day pass, mentally and emotionally.
I don't mean that I take the day off, because then, of course, you have an even bigger pile facing you the next day, if you're a homeschooling mom of several, or even if you're not.
I mean that I pretend to myself that I'm a new person coming in to face the old mess. If my kid is showing signs of poor training, I don't bother to feel discouraged; I just figure out how to tackle the problem. Messy floor and unwiped counter? I will move on to deal with it; I won't dwell on the character or physical failings that got it like that.
I'll start from scratch. Every day can potentially be a chance to start over again. Playing it as a pretend game just helps me see it more clearly.
Anyway, it works for me. I usually do this about ten or a dozen times in a year, and it really does help.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.”
(This doesn't exactly relate, but when I was looking for a quote from Edith Stein on beginning a new life each morning, I found this site: Saints on the subject of prayer)
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