When McCoy was just an itty bitty newborn, my sisters told me over and over: sleep begets sleep. Every time he'd take an extra long nap, I'd repeat this mantra in my mind.
Last week, I was listening to Jen Hatmaker's podcast and one of her guests said creativity begets creativity. It hit me in that moment that creativity and sleep are not the only self-fulfilling processes. The same goes for prayer, kindness, patience. I've noticed that in our marriage, sex begets sex. Communication begets communication. Saving money? Begets saving money. Speaking kindly begets speaking kindly.
The more we practice positive habits, the better we become at living them out daily. Good begets good.
Unfortunately, the same goes for bad. Anger, frustration and selfishness are equally as cyclical. The more we overspend? The easier it becomes to overspend. The more we nitpick our partners, the more easily it is to be frustrated, as opposed to practicing gratitude. The good in our lives breeds more good, just as the bad in our lives breeds more bad.
In the end, it's really just a choice: when we choose to be kind, patient, selfless, loving, they become daily practices.
It's a super simple idea, but, when it comes to life changes, I've found it can be easy to get overwhelmed. Where do I start? How do I get where I want to go? How to we get back to who we were? It can feel impossible.