So, I made it to day five! Adding each new challenge to the pre-existing challenges can be overwhelming when you think about 40 days worth of them and how to remember them all, even in moments of frustration or anger! But, I'll take each day at a time....So, on to day five.
Day 5: Love is not rude
He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be reckoned a curse to him.
—Proverbs 27:14
TODAY’S DARE
Ask your spouse to tell you three things that cause him or her to be uncomfortable or irritated with you. You must do so without attacking them or justifying your behavior. This is from their perspective only.
I would like to point out, again, that there isn't much I like to do early in the morning that doesn't involve a pillow, a book and/or coffee. However, if forced to talk in the morning, there would be a frustration factor involved, and I might have that "loud voice" thing....that is so far, my largest challenge - Day 1 - to show patience and not say anything negative.
As a point of progress, we had a moment yesterday where I might have been more negative if I weren't paying such close attention to how I respond and speak to him right now. He was planning to come by my work and drop something I needed off around 12:30, and by 2:30 he still wasn't there, hadn't called, and hadn't returned my call. When he did call and apologize profusely for forgetting, that didn't change the fact that I had waited, and hadn't received a call during that time, but I took a deep breath, mentally acknowledged that he IS busy, and he WAS sorry, and just said, Ok, I'll leave here and come by your office. Amazing - for me at least! So, I'm proud to say that nothing negative came out of my mouth!!! Yay, me - I think I may have the beginnings of a brain to mouth filter growing! Then I accomplished yesterday's challenge by the asking if there was anything he needed that I could bring him or do for him before my class! I have to say, I felt very accomplished in my daily challenges after that conversation!
Today's challenge is to ask him to tell me three things that annoy him (my own words), and listen without defending or getting angry. I have a feeling I could probably make the list myself, but I want to hear it from him. We have great plans together this afternoon, and I have a massage client later this evening, so I can NOT allow myself to get frustrated by his answers - it would throw off our whole day. He of course, will tend to be reticent to answer my question for that very reason - he won't want to spoil our afternoon, or throw off my good energy for my client, but I will put day 1's challenge to good use and work SO SO hard at being patient and not saying anything negative in return. With 4 days under my belt, I'm sure I can give it a good college try!!!
How are things going for you? What challenge have you found to be the most difficult for you to date?
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