Taking the Long View

One thing I've never been particularly good at is taking the long view.  When I was pregnant with my first daughter, throwing up nonstop for months, I never really thought about the fact that time would end.  It felt like it would go on forever.  When that baby then had colic for about six weeks, again, I never really thought about the fact that it would end; I only felt the stress of the moment -- of the many moments my baby cried and cried and wouldn't stop.

I've been trying, lately, to take the long view more often. Teaching my daughters to drive, for example, is nerve wracking in the moment, but the skill will last them a lifetime.  They'll drive themselves to college and then to their first jobs and then drive their own children everywhere. It takes about a year to teach driving to the point that they can drive themselves safely, but they will keep that skill the lifetime.

My younger daughter is getting her braces off today.  We put the braces on because she had a huge gap in her two front teeth.  When we put them on, I didn't think about the fact that I was setting her teeth up for a lifetime -- not only so she can look good in school pictures, but so she can look professional in job interviews when she is an adult.  It's been a long two years of brackets breaking and coming off, elastic bands flung everywhere, wires popping out at the most inopportune times,(almost always on the weekends) causing pain.  And even though I knew they would come off someday, I didn't think about that "someday" much, not really. But here it is.

The long view comes in handy while raising teenagers. When we're going through a tough time, I try to remember that they will grow up, they will become adults.  They will go to college (one already is in, so I'm more confident about this now!) and they will move out and on. Someday I will be the mother of adult children.  This will happen.

I'm trying to apply the same long view to my writing.  Recently I finished another manuscript, and it's time to get ready to send it out to the world.  I like it a lot, and my beta readers like it a lot. I now have to decide -- in the long view -- what the best thing is for it.  And how to get to there. I'm trying not to short view this one -- to be patient as I make my way towards the goal of seeing this book out there, for readers to enjoy. 

Taking the Long View -- I'm trying to do it, every day, in every way.