Trying to Stay Awake in a Sleepy World: Parenting, Leadership, and Personal Development
Parenting is hard. This isn’t an advice column, it’s my journey of learning, loving, and leading my little one to adulthood.
By Angela Noel Lawson
June 3, 2019
Steve Jobs, Bill and Melinda Gates, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Amma (the ‘hugging saint’), and Martin Luther King Jr. have impacted millions with their extraordinary-ness in business, social justice, human rights, and the arts. Their efforts are meaningful. Each represents an extension of self to benefit the wider world. But world-changing actions aren’t the only ones that matter. Continue reading “Four Simple Ways to Be Extraordinary”
By Angela Noel Lawson
April 15, 2019
A minute after my nine-year-old clomped up the stairs, exasperated over a failed toy repair, I heard a small crash.
“Darn it!” he muttered. I could almost hear the tears of frustration pricking his eyes.
Unfortunately, I had a huge to-do list at work and I needed to get in as soon as possible. Time was of the essence. My easy-going kid had picked an inopportune time to experience irrational anger.
“What’s up, Jack?” I called up the stairs.
“Nothing!” A second later I heard the sound of his electric toothbrush.
“Okay, dude. We’ve gotta get going,” I prodded, as soon as the toothbrush was silent.
Jackson dutifully descended the stairs, picked up his backpack, then headed out to the car. He wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t being a total jerk either.
“Seriously, what’s bugging you?” I asked, after I, too, had climbed into the car.
“I was mad about the glue not fixing my plane, and then the floss flew out of the medicine cabinet onto the floor!”
Let me be clear, this kind of thing doesn’t normally bug him. But everyone gets annoyed now and again. So, I seized the teachable moment. Continue reading “Whose Teachable Moment Is This Anyway?”
By Angela Noel Lawson
April 5, 2019
I know I’m not alone in wanting to stay awake when it seems like the latest news about something less-than-awesome is trying to put me into a stupefied, fear-fueled funk.
My thoughts, constantly stream across the billboard of my mind, informing both my words and actions. They are the underlying code governing my emotional, physical, and social self. Because routines offer shortcuts to my heavily-taxed brain, I rely on these thought patterns to simplify my life. In short, I need some routines to keep myself sane. For example, if I don’t put my keys in the same place every day I frantically search pockets, countertops, and sometimes the cheese drawer to find them.
But, if I want to invite more joy, laughter, purpose, and meaning into my life I need to challenge these shortcuts and regular operating procedures. So here’s a few strategies I use to shake some life into my. . . you know, life. Continue reading “Six Funk-Busting Ideas to Bring More Life to Life”
By Angela Noel Lawson
February 19, 2019
Jackson and I rushed through the school hallways careful not to slip on the rivers of melted snow and mud on the linoleum floors. We were late for our scheduled conference with his fourth grade teacher.
Though I’d left work right at 3:00, planning to pick Jackson up on the way (they had the day off school), I was behind schedule. By the time we arrived at school we were ten minutes late for what I thought was our 3:30 appointment. When we finally arrived at the classroom I peeked in to find a couple already sitting at the table, talking to the teacher. Then I looked at the posted schedule. Instead of 3:30, we were scheduled for 3:00 My heart sank. We weren’t just a little late; we were a lot late.
Unfortunately, I had something I wanted to discuss with the teacher. Something I thought was important. Continue reading “How I Became an Accidental Helicopter Parent”
By Angela Noel Lawson
February 13, 2019
I grew up in California. Winter meant off-the-shoulder sweaters, jean shorts, and UGGs. But all that changed when I moved to Minnesota. So much so that I measure my years in the Midwest by the winters I’ve spent here. This will be my fifteenth.
The first freeze left me struggling to understand how to scrape the ice from my windshield. My boss at the time, a Canadian, told me to use the edge of my credit card to scrape my window. This was not great advice. But I’d never heard of a “scraper.” So that’s my bad.
It took me 12 winters to actually live in a home with a garage. I never fully appreciated the humble glory of parking beneath a roof until I moved here. Now I do.
I also learned that extreme cold causes cancelled school. My son was in kindergarten for the first “polar vortex” when temperatures dropped to -18F. Jackson struggled to understand that Mommy was on a conference call and couldn’t play just then. But even in those days I rejoiced in the fact that I worked at a company that allowed for remote work. This alone was and is something to be grateful for.
In the past few weeks the Midwest has experienced crazy cold temperatures. Here in Minneapolis we hit -28F, and that wasn’t counting the windchill. But Awesome Nugget posts aren’t about the hardships. They’re about the fun moments of surprise and delight that offer me a moment of pause. Being grateful for all the wonder and joy brought on by circumstance is one of the best parts of being a living, breathing human being.
So without further ado, here’s a few of the little moments I’ve noticed so far this winter. Continue reading “Awesome Nuggets: Winter 2019 Edition”
By Angela Noel Lawson
February 4, 2019
Recently, my son hosted a friend for a sleepover. Around six in the evening, I began to think of dinner for the kids. I opened the closet where we keep cans of soda and the odd extra can of soup. Then I pulled from its depths two cans of diet root beer. As I handed a can to my son’s friend I said something surprising. Something that, on the surface, was a non-event. But when I looked deeper I found the seeds of an insidious parenting problem.
“Well,” I said, remembering my struggle in the soda aisle between the regular and diet option while at the grocery store the day before, “I guess you have to decide between the sugar and the chemicals, am I right? But, of course there’s no caffeine either way, so there’s that. Anyway, I went with the diet.”
Meanwhile, the fourth-grader waited patiently, hand outstretched for his drink. Feeling vaguely foolish, I dropped the can into his open palm.
The rest of the evening proceeded as sleepovers do. They watched movies, built forts, and dumped Legos pretty much everywhere. But it was my non-event comment that bothered me. I couldn’t banish a simple thought: Why had I burdened this young man with my reasoning on diet versus regular?
Only one answer seemed right: I’m afraid of being judged for my parenting choices. Continue reading “Parents Judging Parents: I’m Afraid I Don’t Know What I’m Doing”
By Angela Noel Lawson
January 28, 2019
When did you first discover the “truth” about Santa? This past holiday season brought this revelation to my fourth-grader. And while the Christmas season is behind us (at least until next year) I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the value and purpose of belief.
The truth is, Jackson wasn’t the only one who experienced a rite of passage this past season. Explaining the nature of belief and magic to my child evoked all kinds of emotions in me as well. I wrote about the whole experience and am honored to have it featured on OTV Magazine. Please take a moment to read it: An Unbroken Oath: The Truth about Belief (and Santa. Share your thoughts and experiences about magic, belief, and the idea of wonder.
Continue reading “To the Lady Who Said, “We Speak English in America””
Love changes us in unexpected ways. It builds bridges, mends fences, and fortifies us against adversity like nothing else in the world. When I fell in love, I had no idea how important the gift of that love would be. Continue reading “The Moment I Fell in Love My Eyes Began to See–Now in Heart and Humanity Magazine”
By Angela Noel
August 6, 2018
A funny thing happened recently in my laundry room whilst teaching nine-year-old Jackson to wash and dry his clothes. It reminded me of the danger of cognitive biases and the error cascade they can create. Continue reading “Error Cascade: How I Messed Up a Lesson in Laundry”
