TheWRITEaddiction.com

Struggle: (verb) to contend resolutely with a task, problem, etc.; strive.

Is life about learning to struggle, or is it learning how to cope with life’s struggles?

In the grand scheme of things I know I have never experienced a great deal of struggle. Most of my life’s struggles have been emotional, task centered (academic), body image wise (coping with changes due to pregnancy, etc), and at times economic.

I was (that I know of) never taught directly how to struggle or how to cope with struggle. A while back there was an article on Huffington Post that mentioned a study that reported that the happiest adults were ones who were allowed to struggle as children. This was in comparison with adults whose parents had made their it mission to never have their children struggle/tried to make their childhoods worry-free. These children grew up to not know how to cope and when they became of adult age they did not know how to manage struggle and became greatly depressed.

I often wonder as I watch my son express his ‘discontent’ through his verbal whines and cries when I should let him work through it or when its time to comfort him. I am not one to quickly come to his aid or comfort him just because he doesn’t like being on his tummy. I let him fall. I let him fuss. I have him play independently. Most times I don’t know what I am doing but that seems to be the theme of parenthood, or so I have heard. He seems content and happy and is an easy going kid. As he continues to hit his milestones I hope I can stand back and let him struggle and overcome, as I struggle with this new facet of my ever-evolving identity.