I'm Emily P. Freeman and welcome to The Next Right Thing. You're listening to Episode 3.71.

This is a podcast about making decisions, but also about making a life. If you struggle with

decision fatigue, chronic hesitation, or if you just need a few minutes away from the constant

stream of information, and the sometimes

delightful but distracting hum of entertainment, you're in the right place for discerning your next

right thing. I'm an author, a spiritual director, and an occasional workshop leader. I live in North

Carolina with my family, and through my work, I've helped thousands of spiritually thoughtful

people overcome decision fatigue

so that they can discern their next right thing in faith, work, and life.

If you're feeling far from wonder or disconnected from your own faith,

today's episode is an invitation to listen, notice, and remember, listen in.

Thank you. Listen, notice and remember. Listen in. Lately I've been noticing the smallest humans among us.

Maybe it's because they are the age that I am currently most removed from, and I always

romanticize the stages of life I am not currently in. When my kids were little, I promise you,

I was watching those moms of older kids reading their books by the pool while their

swimmers could mostly fin for themselves. But of course, I knew nothing of the power struggles or the

situation ship trauma or the emotional second-guessing that comes along with parenting tweens and

teens. Even among those of us for whom reflection as a regular practice, it's still difficult,

if not sometimes impossible, to truly see the stage of life that you're in while you're in it.

And I'm never going to be the one to tell young parents to enjoy them while they're young.

They grow so fast.

Listen, I remember those days were so hard and so long.

...