Click below to listen to this episode on:
Hello, friends.
Welcome back to another episode.
How in the world are you doing?
Are you so ready for spring like I am?
0:51
Utah's weather can be all Four Seasons in one day, and it's fantastic.
And sometimes it tricks me and lets me think that there's spring and then it'll snow again.
So cannot wait for spring.
All right.
How do you like today's topic?
Home schooling is so hard.
1:07
Have you ever felt this way?
I know I did in the beginning.
I know it's one of the things I hear a lot or people send me a message or anything like that.
Or like, this is so hard.
It's something that I hear quite a bit.
My question is though, why?
1:24
Why can homeschooling be so hard?
I believe it is because you are learning how to do something new, and most times when we learn to do something new, it is hard.
Now every now and then there's a person who just comes and can figure something out, right?
1:43
Different talents, different gifts.
But usually for most of us, when we are learning a new skill in anything, it's challenging for us.
Why?
Because it requires us to think more.
We can't just go on autopilot.
1:59
It requires more mental energy, right?
And so our brain tells us this is hard.
You can see this so often with little kids, right?
Of trying to tie their shoes.
And just like that mental energy of like, OK, wait, what?
First to make the looper cross them together.
2:14
Then one Bunny ear and around the whatever.
However you teach kids to tie their shoes, right?
But like because it requires so much energy where you could just go and tie your shoes, but it requires so much of them doing up their buttons.
All these types of things.
It requires more energy, mental energy.
2:30
And so we feel it is hard.
I love when Brené Brown calls this the FFT or the G rated version.
Your freaking first time.
And when you just do something for your freaking first time, guess what?
It is supposed to be hard.
2:48
Learning a new instrument can be hard.
You have to learn the new notes.
I was thinking about this just even with piano, like where your fingers go and then you have your trouble class and is it bass?
Right, trouble and bass.
And then you have like the notes different counting and different measures.
3:04
And is it a four, four signature?
Is it the two four?
And what in the world is 6/8?
And what?
How does that work?
Right?
I'm going into string instruments and it's funny because even guitar to you to to ukulele, the chords are different.
The A or I'm just guessing.
I only know ukulele, then like A and F or something.
3:22
On ukuleles.
One way, the guitar is more likely another way.
And then I would assume violins would be a completely different way, right?
That they're all not exactly the same.
What about if you're learning a horn or a wind instrument, right?
How does your mouth go?
Where do your fingers go?
How much air should you breathe?
3:39
All of these types of things, Or a lot of things to be thinking about and start consuming a lot of mental energy.
And so it starts to feel hard thinking about this even.
I don't know if you remember when you learned to read, like if it felt hard and what not.
But as I'm teaching my son to read and I've taught my other kids to read, you have to Teach First of all all the names of the letters, what sounds they make, How do you put them together?
4:03
Then you teach them one rule in English and all of a sudden here's a bunch of words that don't follow the rule, right?
And now here you are as an adult.
And most likely I'm assuming that ratings pretty easily that I could hold up a word and be like, oh, I know what that says and it doesn't require a lot of energy.
So you can say it's easy, but in the beginning when we're learn something, it is most often hard.
4:24
So I dare say that it's not that homeschooling it is hard, it's that your brain is still putting in a lot of energy to do it right.
So it doesn't have to be hard forever, just as it is something new, it is challenging for you, right?
4:43
But what's interesting is who said doing hard things was bad or you shouldn't do something just because it is challenging to you.
So a very quick Google search, I found that when you do hard things, it strengthens your mental toughness.
4:58
It strengthens your tolerance for struggle.
You will learn a lot about yourself, leading to personal growth.
You will suddenly find yourself heading towards a rosier future.
The harder you work, the more more rewards you tend to get.
And that one was interesting because that one, that article was going into the neural pathways of just all the receptors of how as you work hard, your brain is giving you more rewards and all those awesome types of things.
5:23
So doing hard things is the way to confront the challenges of life, go through them and create a life of freedom.
But friends, doing something hard is actually good for you.
I've done several hard things throughout the year.
When I started home schooling, I had five little kids.
5:41
We didn't have all the resources that you have now with just a lot of stuff with the computers or cell phones, really, right?
It was.
I don't even think we had touch screens or smartphones or anything like that when I was starting.
So it was very different, right?
And there were challenges with that.
5:57
Different things I've done with endurance races, right marathons, Iron Man's half marathons, lots of different things with races that have been challenging to me.
I've done a couple home births.
Those were hard for me.
Well, one of them was pretty awesome.
I was scared and that was awesome.
But one of them was very hard.
6:13
I am currently doing a new hard thing, which is what has inspired this podcast.
Because sometimes I when I see somebody at the beginning homeschooling and they're like, this is so hard and I'm like, but it's not always going to be hard, right?
And so sometimes I I forget that I also struggled in the beginning as well.
6:33
And so doing something currently hard right now has helped me have more empathy, to slow down a little bit and allow people more space.
All those types of things of like, yes, sometimes something is hard for you.
And that's OK.
So I will.
6:49
I was going to share with you what my new hard thing is, and it has been making me laugh at struggling, watching myself struggle and different thoughts.
And I have all these awesome tools to allow myself to feel all the feelings that have been coming up and and different things like that.
7:05
So it's been really fun.
So I had an interesting cycle with my help where I've got married young, right?
I'd get pregnant, I'd gain a lot of weight.
Pregnant.
That was hard to do, I guess.
And then I would lose all the weight and then I get pregnant again.
7:21
And I just kept that cycle going and going for seven babies.
Well after my last guy, I've had a harder time losing the weight.
Maybe it's age.
Maybe it's that I have a tendency to over work out and probably don't feel myself well enough or my nervous system's out of whack.
Whatever it is, I have been stuck with my health and my weight and so I'm getting help.
7:41
I'm working with a company called Life Sculpt and I know they have locations throughout the US, but I am working with the lovely ladies in American Fork, UT and I do red light therapy a couple times a week, which is amazing and awesome.
I'm taking a ton of supplements and I'm also working with a dietitian and she is the hard part.
8:00
I'm in the first six weeks of this program and it's basically a 12 week program and the first six weeks are a very, very strict diet.
The next six weeks are moving into like lifestyle phase and helping you create this lifestyle and so that you have health and longevity and all those good things.
8:18
But I'm in the very first six weeks and I think it is very hard.
It has made me giggle at what a baby I can be when I feel like something is hard.
I've been Moody, I've been grumpy, I've been irritable, I've even been sad a little bit.
8:36
So I'm on a very strict, like, all real food diet and my husband made the most delicious snack the other day for everybody and was like, oh, are you OK?
Like we all want to eat this.
And I went, it's fine, like just eat your delicious food in front of me.
8:52
It's good, right?
But so like, I had to face that and be uncomfortable and and doing all these things and I've been feeling all these feelings.
And why?
Because I'm doing something different than what I've been doing and it's pushing me.
It's challenging me.
9:08
I have to deal with the emotions that come up, the uncomfortable feelings that show up.
And it's awesome.
They send you an e-mail every day and it's like you might find yourself more irritable because maybe when you felt upset, you have used food as they didn't use the word buffer, but as a buffer, and now you're not.
9:23
So now you're feeling all the feelings.
And I thought, well, this is fantastic for me because, like, I'm all in about feeling all the feelings.
But it's because I was able to keep going and I'm still able to keep going.
Like I said, I'm in the middle of it because my girlfriend did it before me and she had amazing results and she warned me like, this is going to be hard, but it's also so worth it.
9:48
And that's what I want to share with you.
With homeschooling, it can be hard.
I'm not going to lie to anybody and say it's easy every single day.
Yes, there are going to be things that are going to challenge you and show up that did you did not expect, right?
But it is so worth it.
10:07
You are probably breaking down all the habits, right?
Especially if your kids were in school and you have a habit of them going to school every day or you have the habit of you just doing all the work around the house and now you're creating new ones.
Can take a lot of mental energy to do that and that can feel hard.
Keep doing it anyway.
10:24
You are bravely going off the traditional path and that can feel scary and hard.
Keep doing it anyway.
You had to change your thought from This is hard.
Oh, sorry I wrote that.
My notes.
I'm like that is not what I meant to say.
You don't have to change your thought from this is hard to this is so easy.
10:46
Probably doesn't feel believable and it's not going to help you.
But what if you leaned into that hard like it was a good thing?
What if you thought there was something like it's OK that it's hard because it's going to be worth it?
11:03
I often say to and to clients in different calls like that, that your hardest child will always be your best teacher if you allow them.
Those hard things are what push us and help us to grow and help us to become that next version of ourselves that we always have the potential to become.
11:22
So maybe your heart within homeschooling is different things.
Maybe your heart is staying calm when you have a very frustrated learner.
Maybe it's your heart is taking time to plan lessons.
What about your hard learning how to say no to others and making homeschool a priority?
11:39
If you allow yourself to feel hard and grow from it, it will be so worth it.
Just like I'm doing my current hard right now, I challenge you to keep going even when it feels hard.
And trying different thoughts of like, this feels hard right now.
11:55
And that's OK.
Stepping into.
I love embracing those, those thoughts that are embracing like, when it gets really hard, especially when I'm like, wow, I just want to go out to eat or want to go do something like that, right.
I'm just stepping into it like it's OK that this feels hard because it's going to be so worth it.
12:12
So I thought it'd be fun to share in my stories on Instagram, Just different things I'm doing with that.
So if you want to follow along with my heart, go ahead and make sure you're following me a coach.
Meg Thomas and I will keep you up to date with my health and all those good things.
12:28
Friends, keep doing hard things and keep being awesome.
Love you.
Talk to you next week.