One of my past difficulties has been around being able to articulate a request from my family and allowing space for that request to flourish into a response, before I fell into an all too familiar mode of making my request sound like a demand.

It is an old pattern, which I am all too aware of, as I begin to notice on my journey of self-discovery that it is a strategy which has actually failed spectacularly, because invariably, I had to re-wind, apologise and start the whole process of making the same request again from a place of humility.

Recently, when discussing holiday plans for the coming year, I suggested that instead of a two week break in summer, I would prefer to have two separate weeks off work. One week just after the schools break up and one week at the end of summer just before schools re-open.

For once, I let the idea circulate for quite a few weeks, touching on my reasons every now again and making the case for change, in an attitude of openness and willingness to compromise, in fact willing to leave things as they have been previously settled.

To my surprise, my wife came around to the idea and we sat together a couple of weeks ago making some new plans – something for us both to look forward to.

After having paid deposits for two locations my wife shouted down to me as she climbed the stairs to bed “Thanks for booking the holidays – it feels right”

I shouted back up “Thanks love for hearing my request”

My next blog will be: Living with Discomfort

William Defoe