‘Mommy is sad, we are going to go take a break.’ She repeated, ‘Sad?’ Today we slowed life down for a minute.’: Mom urges ‘acknowledge your feelings of not feeling okay’

“My head was feeling all over this morning. I just really wasn’t feeling myself and was being consumed by negativity. I decided to make a pit stop on the way to work.

Instead of hurrying through the drive-through, I took a half-hour to go into Starbucks with Ella. I also decided this was a good learning moment for Ella. I think it’s healthy to acknowledge our feelings of not feeling okay. I want to instill in her how to recognize when she is feeling ‘too much’ and healthy ways to handle it.

I told her, ‘Mommy is sad, we are going to go take a break.’

She repeated, ‘Sad?’

I said, ‘Yes, Mommy needs to calm down. Let’s get coffee, baby.’

To which she replied ‘COFFEE!’

It was a relaxing, recollecting myself mini-date. Of course, she loved the perks of getting a ‘Cooooukie,’ feeling cool sitting next to me on a big chair, and genuinely just enjoying each other’s company talking for a half-hour.

This was a double edge sword of date because it served as a learning tool as well.

I really try to teach Ella right now how to do things in public. This is how we order, this is how we say please and thank you to people who are at work, how to pay, how to be respectful to those around us. This is teaching her how to be polite, patient, and how to be a functional community member. Public places are phenomenal locations to teach these qualities.

So today we slowed life down for a minute and had a mental health pit stop.

I made an example out of myself to her. When we’re upset, we need to take a break and calm down. We also practiced our ‘public manners.’ I took a negative situation and made a learning moment out of it and that’s my win for today.”

This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Jessica Edmisten, 23, of Ohio. You can follow her journey on Instagram here. Do you have a similar experience? We’d like to hear your important journey. Submit your own story here. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.

Read more stories from Jessica here: 

‘Had I just been a part of a cheating scandal? I wanted to vomit. I immediately called him out, probably sent him a million swear words.’: Woman shares ups and downs of their ‘non-fairy tale’ story

‘I had plans to graduate. We’d both just gotten good jobs. Why was this happening to us NOW?’: Young mom says age doesn’t matter, ‘We will always be exactly where we need to be’

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