So often these days people rate their level of success by a few key criteria – job position, annual income, size of house, location of house, size of television, value of car(s) etc. Success for many is represented by what you can see they own.
For me success equals happiness. So, success at work is happiness at work. Personal success means happiness at home. I recently heard a definition for success that I liked, and it goes something like this…
“Success is waking up in the morning eager to go to work, being excited to return home at the end of the day and being welcome at both places.”
Right now I’m in the middle of a seven-week break from working. I call myself semi-retired, although I will start working again in October. It has been an awesome time because it has given me time to spend with the family, and fully recharge my batteries for work, and rediscover my hunger to succeed in a professional capacity that had slowly dwindled over the last few years.
Being at home has also allowed me to be more hands on as a parent, and again a great learning experience. Children have the knack of highlighting weaknesses and make you realize how people of every age have a habit of behaving childishly.
Many people have been asking us whether Vienna, our 22 month old daughter, is feeling misplaced or displaced with Delilah’s arrival. We have heard many horror stories from parents whose first child gets very upset by the arrival of the younger sibling. Where the first child was once the star attraction, he or she, through no fault of their own, gets relegated to be the warm-up act.
Actually Vienna seems to be doing very well with the adjustments. We have been reinforcing from the very beginning that this is Vienna’s baby. That seems to have given her ownership of her new sister and made her feel more responsible for helping and being a good “big sister”.
Her behaviour is similar to that of adults whose lives are suddenly changed at work or home. If they aren’t supported and given the appropriate recognition, they often times lose interest and if the feelings are widespread enough in an organization that would mean a serious deterioration in morale.
Vienna has been very helpful and likes to assist one of the parents in diaper changing for Delilah. Vienna will fetch and unfold the clean diaper and dispose of the dirty one for us.
Vienna is also often on hand to give supportive kisses to Delilah.
It has been a lot of fun over the past two weeks having a new baby, but also seeing Vienna as a big sister. Vienna surprises us constantly with her understanding and maturity.
Having children is the greatest lesson of all.
