You’re Doing Great

When was the last time you heard those words? When was the last time you said them? Let's talk about the power of these three words.

Hey, friends. This is Cherese Lee and you're listening to the Just Waiting for You podcast. Whether the sun is shining where you are in life today, or you're walking through a crappy storm and you really wish you got some rain boots, the power of a story is sometimes all you need for that perspective shift. Hang out with us for a few minutes and find out what happens when you realize that someone is just waiting for you.

It's a story. It's just a story. So, I'm at Target a couple weeks ago by myself, completely in my happy zone, right? I've got my Starbucks in my hand. I have no children with me (I love you kids if you're listening to this, but Mama really likes Target alone). And I'm in one of those rare positions where I actually have time to go up and down the aisles that you never go in.

Right? You know the ones I'm talking about at Target. The ones that have like fake plants and picture frames. Like who has time to go down those aisles normally? And I'm just perusing up and down, taking my time, and out of my periphery, I catch a glimpse of the cutest baby in a buggy with a mama. And y'all know I am a big ole’ baby person.

And this little one…oh, my goodness. I just could’ve, like, eaten the rolls on her arms. Right? She had, you know sometimes babies will wear the little helmets to help shape their heads? So, she had a pink one. So cute. And mom is having her target time and is feeding like puffs or whatever to the little one to keep her happy.

And they're just going up and down the aisles. She had the cutest little Pebbles from the Flintstones - Pebbles ponytail sticking up through the top of her helmet, and this mom starts down the aisle I'm in (pretty sure at this point I was over in the Magnolia aisles - again, places you never really get to go). So, I'm just hanging with Joanna Gaines.

And this momma comes up with the buggy and I couldn't help but just gawk over that baby. And I said, “oh, goodness, she is precious”. And she said, “Thank you”. And I said, “you know, I love her little pigtail that you've made at the top of the helmet”. And she said, “Yeah, you know, she has so much hair”.

“And when we first got the helmet, she was getting all sweaty because her hair was under the helmet, and it just looked uncomfortable. So, I got creative, and I pulled the- (you know, there's like all the vents in the helmet) so, I just pulled her hair up through the top and made a little pigtail, and she seems so much more comfortable now”.

And I was like, “Well, yeah, plus it's cute”. And she said, “Yeah, it is really cute”. And I saw that mama looking down at her baby and this little creation she had made at the top of this helmet while standing there among all this gorgeous magnolia stuff. And I thought, that's what's beautiful, right? That baby was so happy, and she was comfortable.

And I looked at that mom and I said, “wow, mama, you're doing great. She looks so happy”. And that mom, who I had never seen in my life, got the biggest tears in her eyes. And she looked at me and said, “Thank you”. And she walked away. And I stood there among all those beautiful Joanna Gaines things, and I thought, “I wonder when the last time she heard that was”.

I wonder if anyone's told her that she's doing a great job just for showing up at Target with her toddler, just for coming up with a pigtail on that helmet that I'm sure neither of them wanted to have to deal with. And I thought, I need to start telling people more that they're doing a good job, even if I don't know them.

It reminded me of when my boys were little and carrying the twins. I had an injury during pregnancy where my abdominal muscle basically ripped in half. Right? Because it's hard carrying two babies. And so, after they were born and they were kind of stabilized and at home, my doctor sent me to start seeing a physical therapist just because it was causing me a lot of pain and to try to get some treatment for that.

And if you listen to episode one, you know what our life looked like then, right? I had a husband in residency working probably 100 hours a week. We had no family in town. We had three babies essentially two and under. One of whom was really sick most of the time. And it was just a life of putting out fires all the time.

So, I go to this first physical therapy assessment. I had to wait until there was an evening appointment available on a night that my husband was allowed to come home. And I go in for the assessment and it was this older woman who was the P.T. and she specialized in women's services (physical therapy), and she starts to do the assessment. And its winter. I have on a big sweater and corduroy pants (probably still maternity pants because I'm no fool).

And she puts her hands on my back and she starts moving her hands one at a time down my spine. Right? To try to get a sense of how this abdominal injury is affecting my posture - my back. And as she does that, I start to cry, I get these tears and then they start rolling. And then I just lose it right there at my physical therapy appointment.

And you know what? It probably was the first time I'd worn makeup in months, so what a shame. Anyway. And I sit down on the exam table, and she says, “Are you okay?” And I said, “Yeah, no, it's fine. You didn’t hurt me. It's just, no one's touched me when they didn't need something in a really long time.”

“And you rubbing on my back actually was really sweet.” Oh, my goodness. I wonder how much I could have used someone in the grocery store aisle during that period of life saying, “you're doing a great job, mama”. Just kind of breathing and making sure they are too, and getting groceries. I hope that maybe as you go about your day or your week, you look around and see people a little bit differently and you’ll realize that, not only are they doing a great job just by being there, but so are you.

Maybe we could all make a promise to each other that we'll start saying it out loud more often, or maybe rub each other's back for real, or with words, or with just really sweet smiles in the target Magnolia aisle. I know I say it all the time, but I just truly believe that somebody really is just waiting for us.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you allow yourself to feel the things today and then have the courage to ask, “But what if it looks like this?”

Go forth and show up for life my friends. Someone is just waiting for you.