For My Kids - The Lesson I Didn’t Learn

Carpinteria Beach, California

March 1, 2021

I was initially puzzled by the comments on what advice would you give your 21 year old self. But I get it now - we learn when we are ready to learn.

The First Tee approach to teaching life lessons is to plant seeds in kids’ heads with the idea that at some point they will have an experience that reminds them of what we talked about. It could be monkey mind, it could be making healthy choices or perhaps how to handle peer pressure.

As my kids are entering the parts of their lives where their are additional “demands” on their time, the seed I want to plant is this: make time everyday to relax and do something healthy for yourself. Eat right, meditate, yoga, walk, run, lift - know that you are in charge of your time and make time to take care of yourself. Life can happen to you if you let it - and once you do, it can be hard to regain control of it. Learn to say no to demands that are not consistent with your goals and values. You can do these things because they are not selfish — they in fact mean you have more energy and time for those things and people that you love.

That’s probably more than one seed. 🤪