Comedy Through The Chaos: Parenting Edition

Hello, hello, hello and happy Saturday to anyone who is joining us on Saturday. If you're watching us somewhere in the future, happy whatever day it is to you. I hope that the day is treating you well. If not, shame on it. Not shame on you. I am Ms. Shannon Paul, a comedian, corporate speaker, voice actor, event MC and benefit auctioneer that hubs out of the great state of Minnesota. I am also the proud parent of an adorable 17 year old who happens to be high supports on the autism spectrum. He's over there in his nest right now, so we'll see how long, how long he lets me hang out with y' all before he says, I need your attention, Mom.

Let's get this done. So welcome, hello, hello. Chris Edge hello, hello. So hello and welcome to Speak. Wonder, Good to see you in there as well. I think I missed somebody else chatting in. Rick, good to see you. So happy to get everybody here on the Saturday. Andy Mack, Always happy to see your name in the chat. I was just mentioning that my kiddo is nesting right over there on the other side of the door. So he seems very comfortable for now. So it's a good day. Thank you. Thank you very much. Speak Wonder.

I appreciate you. Thank you. So we are cruising along, cruising along. Always happy to see all of our pleasant friends here in the Cadre sphere. Hoping that we are providing a resource to you in the way you need to receive it at the time in which you need to receive it. Always looking for your feedback. We are focusing on the concepts and different concepts of harvesting. So for this comedy through the Chaos parenting edition, I wanted to give us some encouragement to harvest some positive vibes as parents to harvest those positive vibes.

So the example that I will give you is this. I have been working with my kiddo on a variety of things for years. That's what we do as parents is that we put them in the path of positive things and hope that they will absorb the things that they need. One of the things I have also been working on is being able to travel again with work when I need to and to feel comfortable that he is happy and safe and tucked in well with his with his fill in care assistants. And primarily that is my sister Casey who is the most kind, wonderful person I have in the world and I always feel bad because she is a great auntie but my kid can be very spicy.

And also I have a new PCA that I hired not quite a year ago named Defe Day. And so I was telling a story about Defe earlier this week because one of my kids favorite thing to do is to tell him goodbye, see you tomorrow and get him to leave. And so it has taken a lot of practice on both of their parts and my part to get him to go. Well, I'm not gonna have the whole game be that I tried to kick this dude out of this house. It's like he is here for a reason. He is here to hang out with you. And mom needs his house very spicy.

Yeah, I know you think that's funny. So we had been working on that. So this is the first trip that I've taken recently where I felt mostly okay. It was only an overnight. I left Thursday morning. I was gonna be back Friday by about 1 o' clock in the afternoon if I got up and made it back onto the road quickly enough. But of course, as a parent, I'm still worried about all of these things. And I try really hard as a human being to not let worry get in the way of, of all of the positive vibes. But we all know that that is difficult, especially with the fact that our brain loves to jump back into those negativity biases.

So I'm like, everything should be fine. I made sure I bought all of his provisions. I hope my. I'm trying to send positivity into the house. I'm getting on the road, everything's cool. I set it up so that my sister has additional support because there were some times in the past when I didn't have that extra backup for her and then it just made things even more complicated. But this time she was able to actually even go run some errands and do other things because she had support. While I was out of town and I got to the event that I was at, it happened to be a fundraiser in the great city of Fargo, North Dakota about a not quite four hour drive from my house.

And it was for an organization called Bio Girls and they do mental health support and activities for young girls, primarily in middle school and junior high because we have quite a high. Just a trigger warning here. The suicide and suicide ideation rates in the Midwest and specifically in North Dakota are very, very high for our young girls. And so Biro Girls was started seven years ago and their founder was working on ways to address that. So they have a variety of programs and support systems that they sit in.

And this is the second year that I have been fortunate to support them as their benefit auctioneer. So I'm very happy that they came across my path. So it's just fascinating that I'm out of Town working on helping support an organization that does what we're all here to do today, which is support our mental wellness and find ways to support other people's mental wellness and the listening to their tact on it. And a little piece of me as a parent is still snapping back to that focus on worry instead of snapping back to harvesting all of the positive things that we worked on, you know, over time with my kiddo.

And so we had a great event Thursday night. I got back to my hotel room, went to sleep, and I kid you not, woke up at like 6am and that's when my anxiety really kicked in. And all I could picture at 6am when I first woke up was my kid in distress, his caregivers in distress, and me four hours away. And I'm going, well, that's not the reality that has to happen. I hadn't gotten a text or a call from my sister. I hadn't gotten a text or a call from his pca. They hadn't asked me to fill in anything.

The last thing I heard from my sister is she asked me, what kind of burgers does he like at McDonald's? Because she was going to go run and get it because he'd been asking for it. That was a cool thing, not a bad thing. But of course, my brain snaps back to that. And so instead of letting myself soak in that negativity, what I decided to do is like, Shannon. And I talked to myself like, that was like, shannon, get it together. There's no reason that you have to think about this negative thing. Why don't you think about the positive things?

There's been lots of times in your interactions with your son that he's been laughing and giggling. Instead of thinking about him in distress, think about him very much so. Speakwander. Instead of thinking about him in a negative state, picture him in a positive state. Harvest all of those positive eyes that you had before, and not only for me, but put that back into the universe on behalf of my kid. He deserves to have times of giggles and tickles and things, even if I'm not there right then, to be the one providing it.

And so I just made myself really focus on a time when he was happy and cared for and laughing. And then every time that negative vibe tried to come back in, I was like, nope, I'm gonna picture him happy and laughing and having a good time. And that's as much of a reality as the negative points. And you know what? I got back to sleep a little bit. I got my stuff Together, we drove home, and I got home, and things were fine. Yes, there were a couple spicy moments, but there's spicy moments almost every day.

But nothing that he couldn't handle, nothing that my sister couldn't handle, nothing that his PCA couldn't handle. Everybody was good. And I think we all need to remind ourselves that as parents and caregivers, that we deserve to harvest those positive vibes, to use those positive vibes when we need them to get us through those moments of anxiety, to get us through those moments of negativity when our brain starts popping back to remember how terrible this was, then I. We need to remind ourselves that we can harvest that positivity.

Go. Yeah. But also remember that time that it was good, and use that to be able to go. That's what gave me the energy to drive back from Fargo. That instead of just driving back and speeding and just so sure that I needed to get home because things were falling apart, it was no, take care of yourself. Pay attention to the road construction. Turn your podcast up, girl. You'll be all right. And I got home, and everybody was good. And I actually, I stopped on MC. I stopped at McDonald's, because I'm like, here's a reward for keeping it together on mom's behalf while she was working.

So continue to think about that, friends. Think about how you can use those positive moments in your life. You can go back to them, dip into that well, harvest those seeds that you had planted as much as you can. When you do get into those moments of anxiety and worry, and use those to, as much as possible, minimize that worry. Because that worry, all that, is just giving prayers to something negative. So let's not fuel that worry. Let's use it for positivity. Let's get ourselves back to those moments that may not have been perfect, because perfect is not what we're working for.

But we are looking for progress. And this trip was a good reminder that I am progressing in the things that my son needs. And I'm sure that you, as parents and caregivers, are doing that as well. And it's sometimes very difficult to remind ourselves that those mini progressions are important. And you deserve to give yourself a pat on the back and get yourself some roses for them, because every little mini progression will eventually get you to the goal that you're looking for, which is for them to be happy and safe and good people, just like I'm sure all of you here in the Cadre sphere are.

So I am gonna go make something for breakfast. I don't know what he wants kind of thing. I'll have to go and ask him. I'll do a little focus group of one 17 year old kid of what I should make for him to eat and then we are going to move into. I was being optimistic today. His adaptive personal trainer is coming to the house and so hopefully we can get a little activity in. Thank you Andy Mack, I appreciate you. I appreciate you. And so I am going to be hashtag positivity today. I have his adaptive fitness trainers coming.

So we're trying to get some movement into the 70 year old's life today, some movement and see how that goes. But please make it as, as, as Rick Cram saying, make it a great day everybody. Again, like I always like to remind you, I hope that the day goes well for you. If it does not, shame on the day, not shame on you. And always please continue to let us know how we can support you here in the Cadre sphere. Let us know what it is that you need. If we are, if we are continuing to build this community together, it's important for us to get your feedback, important for us to know what content we should continue to do, the contributors that we are researching for and making sure that we are giving you a little bit of what you need when you need it.

So everybody, I hope the day goes well for you. I will see you back here next Thursday at 2pm Central and I appreciate you all. Bye everybody.