Weekend Vibes

I had a weekend. You know, the type where it goes too fast and you’re not ready for Monday to come yet—but also it was so stressful, you don’t really want to prolong it anymore.

We’ve all been there. My oldest daughter got sick, and of course my youngest also started feeling bad. So there I was, awake at 2 AM, consoling my child about why everyone gets a stomach ache from time to time—and that it’s okay. Yes, it was that type of night.

I woke up beside my youngest in a twin bed, with half my body hanging off the side, not knowing what happened or how I got there. It felt a little bit like I was living The Hangover Part 4: Parent Edition. Needless to say, the rest of the day was consumed with laundry, meal planning, work calls, and endless shopping sprees—because what else is there to do on a Sunday? Actually, I can think of a million things. But my kids have a different opinion.

All that to say, I decided to go for a walk and decompress. It was really nice. I started to feel a little better just getting out of my home environment and changing the scenery—but still not feeling 100 percent until I got home.

My kids could not contain their happiness and excitement. They had found a store that carried a squishy they wanted. For those of you who don’t have young children, it’s basically a stress ball that’s fun to squeeze. Who knew a stress ball would be all the rage for young kids in 2026… but here we are.

I watched how happy they were over a toy, and I was amazed. I looked at my husband and said, wow, I wish a small gadget could make me this happy when I’m feeling upset. Goodness, it felt like they had taken a stimulant or antidepressant—they were filled up on dopamine. And then I really reflected on it more. At what point did we stop getting excited about things? What happened as we aged that a squishy can’t make us that happy anymore? Maybe we should take a lesson from our kids and allow ourselves to get excited about little things once in a while.

Maybe not a squishy… but maybe a walk in the park, or a good call with a friend, or a laugh with a complete stranger. Maybe as we get older and more stuck in our ways, we lose that childish spark—and we need to fight to get it back. We need to focus on fun from time to time and not be so serious about everything. Being serious is highly overrated.

The truth is, we’ve all had these mornings. Sometimes mornings turn into bad days, and then bad months, and sometimes even bad years.

But we can take steps to reverse this by changing our focus. It’s okay to mess up sometimes. It’s okay to not have it all together. It’s okay to be unpolished and say the wrong things. It’s okay to be annoyed and angry. And it’s definitely okay to be happy and get excited about little things—like watching your favorite show or making a really good meal that your family loves.

We have to create intention around getting excited about life again. Because one day, we’re going to look back on our 20s and 30s and 40s and beyond—and we want to remember how much we liked these decades, not what a drag they felt like.

That’s something I work on every day, both personally and through Love and Focus Coaching—helping people reconnect with what actually brings them joy and learning how to shift their mindset back to the moments that matter.

So let’s be intentional about focusing on the good things, the little moments in our lives, to reignite that childhood spark. These are the lasting memories. These are the moments you’ll remember one day. And when you’re feeling down, you can reflect on them—and feel a little better.