Blog | Lindsey Staton Life Coaching

36

May 22, 2015 By Lindsey Staton

So, 36. The oldest I’ve ever been (and the youngest I’ll ever be). I don’t mind getting a year older. But I gotta be honest with you, I’m really gonna miss 35. It was a really good year. The best in a while.

Not sure what changed a year ago today. But I distinctly remember waking up feeling different.

There was an unfamiliar weight on my heart. Not the usual weight of stress, pressure or burden. But a weight of…significance, something of great value. There was a sudden awareness of the immeasurable value of time. Precious, fleeting time. We talk about buying time, saving time, making time. But you can’t really do any of those. Regardless of how I spent it, time was passing right through my fingers every second. And I became desperate to not waste it.

And I had been wasting it. Waiting. [Read more…]

The older ones first

May 15, 2015 By Lindsey Staton

So there’s this relatively new word going around. You’ve probably heard it. It’s called “hangry.” It’s the combination of hungry and angry, and refers to the anger caused by being hungry.

I was hangry for God’s word the other day. Even though I read the Bible nearly every morning, I was driving around and my heart actually began to feel empty like my stomach does when I haven’t eaten in a while. I actually pictured myself picking up a Bible and taking big bites out of it like a cheeseburger, chewing it up and swallowing it. (Maybe I have pica.) Then I pictured an IV drip of the word in my arm. Then I decided what I really needed was one of those giant syringes straight into my heart.

Thankfully I was prepared. During a similar crisis a few weeks before, I downloaded the audiobook of the Gospel of John onto my phone. So I turned it on and let it pick up wherever it had left off last time. [Read more…]

The dance of the stepmom

May 8, 2015 By Lindsey Staton

Every mom has at least one story, the story of how her child came to be. Even though becoming a mother has resulted in permanent brain damage (“baby brain” never really goes away, people), all the moms I know can recount with shocking accuracy every detail of her pregnancy and an almost minute-by-minute account of the actual delivery. Granted, I’ve only done it once. Not sure if Michelle Duggar would agree with the above statements. But even my friends with multiple children can speak confidently about each pregnancy and birth they experienced.

On Caroline’s most recent birthday, I told her the whole thing. Everything I could remember. The conversation her dad and I had at Moe’s when we decided we were ready to start trying for a baby. The day I found out I was pregnant (which just happened to be Mother’s Day). How she would kick so hard, it would scare me to death. How my water broke at 3 AM, two days before Christmas, three weeks before my due date, on the day I was supposed to be hosting a Christmas party (the seven-layer dip was already made and in the fridge). The phone calls I made from the hospital. The actual labor and delivery. The unexpected trip to Shands on Christmas Day to check her heart murmur.

She was enchanted by it all. She was known and cared for and loved before she ever was. The story of how I became a mom is beautiful and precious and held close to my heart at all times. I regularly give her a big hug and thank her for making me a mom. [Read more…]

Redemption jag

May 1, 2015 By Lindsey Staton

I’m a fixer.

Life is in a constant state of entropy. Everything is always in the process of falling apart. I get that. I’ve almost accepted it. Almost.

But as soon as I figure out something is wrong, I want it fixed. I don’t like process. I don’t like growth. If it’s wrong, I want to make it right. Stat. I have a running list of things that need fixing in my life. I want to go through it point by point, do some work, complete the project, put a big check by it and then NEXT!

My therapist has heard it. I go in there. I lay out the problem. She nods thoughtfully with a look of concern and compassion. I wait. “Well?” I ask. “Well, what?” she replies. “Fix me!” I insist. She smiles. We’ve been through this. That’s not how it works. [Read more…]

The Last Time

April 24, 2015 By Lindsey Staton

I’m a very sentimental person.

I’m a very sentimental person with a phenomenal memory. Now, granted, I will forget why I walked in a room, forget what I was saying mid-sentence. But by way of conversations and relationships, I’m a memory hoarder. I can’t even help it.

I have a stash of keepsakes from high school, college and kids. Photo albums galore. (Remember when you used to take pictures with cameras and take the film to get developed and pick up prints?) I never made Caroline a baby book (sorry, kiddo), but I have lots of pictures and wrote down a number of milestones and funny stories from when she was a baby.

And in the last year or so, I’ve become increasingly aware of the brevity of life and the importance of seizing the day. I regularly remind myself and Brad when we’re in the middle of something special so we can enjoy the moment and remember it. “Don’t miss this,” I tell us. And we don’t. [Read more…]

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