enjoy the process
5 Jul
I could cite several aha! moments brought on by Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. One that is resonating with me today is enjoy the process. It’s a topic that I unknowingly touched upon in this post about decorating the lemon’s nursery. Half the fun is the anticipation of the process, then the actual process. The end result, while very satisfying, is really the end of the fun. Think of the anticipation you have while planning a trip and then waiting for the departure date. It’s like a prelude to the actual fun – therefore fun in its own right.
I want to apply this to TTC (trying to conceive if you’ve never relied on the internet when trying to make a baby). I want to enjoy the process. And no, not just the sex, ya perv. The anticipation. The happiness I feel with each new cycle. While it’s always a little sad to get your period when you were hoping it wouldn’t show – that day gives you your CD1 (cycle day 1). If you become pregnant during this cycle, that becomes the day used to date your pregnancy. There is also great satisfaction in identifying the signs of ovulation and knowing that you got in plenty of baby-making around that time. The joy in calculating your next possible due dates if you are successful is so much fun. “We can announce it to the family on this holiday, we would be due around so and so’s birthday or just before this big event, this time next year, we could be parents.” It’s all part of the process, and I vow to enjoy it – not curse it.
This winter was so difficult in so many respects. Between getting sober, going off my meds, and trying to conceive unsuccessfully for the first 3 months of 2010, all I wanted was for it to fly on by and be over. In my defense, that is easy to do during the long, dreary winter. Nevertheless, I vow to enjoy each day of this beautiful summer and to always remember to enjoy the process.
I immediately thought of the saying “To travel hopefully is better than to arrive”…. not true in the full context of your post but enjoy!
Yes, yes, yes. It’s my one regret about how my daughter was conceived–lickety split with no anticipation whatsoever. I think that trying for a few months for my son heightened my excitement and actually helped forge a strong bond before he even came into existence.
Thank you ladies! Lisa, you’re so right. Jim and I were talking about “lemon” for weeks before we found out we were expecting. I even wrote “Lemon, come to us!” on our chalkboard wall in the kitchen. We’re currently entertaining a new, cute, gender neutral name for our next little embryo.
This is a really interesting (and healthy) way of looking at things. I might need to read that book.