The Slide Less Slid

At our local MacDonald’s there is a play place. This play place has two slides. The red one is really curvy. The blue one is taller and snakes around the red one.

Recently my three-year old climbed up the top of the blue slide and slid down it all by himself.

Big deal. Right? Well it was a humongous, ginormous deal. I cannot tell you how many times my two older kids, a McDonald’s employee, or I had to climb up the squishy steps, through the big plastic tunnel, over the netted bridge (that I know I am too heavy for), and bring him down kicking and crying because he was scared. It was a big deal, I tell ya.

When he arrived at the bottom of the blue slide (by himself = big deal), the smile on his face was priceless and the speed that he climbed back up for another slide was record-breaking. It was an inspiring moment.

There are so many things I remember about childhood that terrified me, but when I finally dove in, I couldn’t stop reliving the accomplishment. It was the same for my little guy. He still loves to remind me of how he slid down the blue slide, when we drive by McDonald’s. (any McDonald’s) 🙂

When we were kids, we lived on a dairy farm. At two spots in our driveway, there were cattle guards that you had to cross to get to our home. I was terrified to ride my bike over them because I kept picturing my bike and I falling into one of the spaces between the rails. My younger sister Olivia would ride her bike fast and glide right over them, but I was too afraid. I would always stop before getting to each cattle guard and walk my bike over it. Probably an act that was much more likely to end up with me between the rails, but it was my method. Eventually, I gave into Olivia’s matter-of-fact explanation for why I should just-ride-over-the-stupid-thing and made it across without incident. I found that speeding up was fun and the faster I went the smoother my crossing. Similar to my son, I hurried up to cross the cattle guard the next time.

I know speeding up isn’t the solution for most problems, but allowing yourself to jump into a solution could be what you need. If there is a problem or situation in your life that you know what you have to do to get past it, do it. Slide, ride, jump, or speak your way past whatever is holding you back. Need a little encouragement? Check out the July Positivity Challenge. It might help you build up the speed you need to slide past your problems.

What are you going to slide through today?

By: Melanie A. Peters