You know how sometimes you have this genius idea about taking your family to do something fun? You plan it months in advance, buy the tickets, put it on the calendar and then . . . life happens. The day comes and what seems like a million other unexpected things have also been added to the calendar. You are busier than you dreamed you’d be. You are more tired than you expected.
So you waffle.
You wonder for a minute, what you were thinking when you bought those tickets. Why did I think I was going to have the energy to do this? You consider your options. You could try to sell the tickets. You could just pretend it never happened and let it go. You could invite friends and leave the kids at home. You could just give all the tickets to friends.
They’re all fine options.
None of them is going to kill you. Sometimes the best answer is to let it go. To hold a boundary for yourself and/or your family and just say no.
Independent of the sunk costs.
Or, you could remember why you wanted to do it in the first place. You could go back to the heart of it and remember that you are a grown up now and you get to call the shots on how you spend your life. I’ve found that often when we’ve planned something far in advance it’s because we really enjoy it and at least at some point, were looking forward to it. There was a reason.
That’s exactly what happened to us this last weekend.
As a family, we really enjoy live music. We love music in general, but concerts are totally a thing. Scott and I were both into live music before we met and have carried concerts on as a family tradition with the boys. Slowly introducing them to bands and tours that are appropriate for them. We especially love Mat Kearney. So when he first announced his tour was coming to Dallas, it was a no brainer.
Four tickets please!
As the months rolled past and we got closer, we noticed the concert was at 7pm on a Sunday night. Downtown. At House of Blues. (ouch) Scott was out-of-town all week, flying in a 5pm. The new house build process took a giant toll last week. We put our current home on the market. I threw a GNO event. It was our church small group night. And on and on and on.
Then we remembered the why.
There was a reason we bought those tickets. We love live music. It awakes our hearts and inspires our souls. We believe the experience is healthy for our kids. It’s off the beaten path. Concerts remind us that there is life outside of our everyday grind.
So we did it.
Yes, we were tired. (Yes, I’m still tired.) But it was worth it. We’ve been playing Mat’s music through the house this week and it’s a good reminder that our family makes a point to choose meaningful over mundane.
The next time you’re faced with a choice to stay home or do the thing you wanted to do before “life happened”, choose meaningful.
If it’s life-giving to you, it’s worth doing.
Mundane will always be there.
Choose meaningful.
to more love,
Crystal
P.S. This is probably exactly the process you might go through when it comes time to join us for a GNO. Decide today to join us on May 3rd. (We’re off to the races! To finish strong before summer.) Choose meaningful.
