A weekly conversation about the messy, meaningful reality of caregiving, told with humor, honesty, and the occasional slightly ridiculous life metaphor. Come laugh, reflect, and leave with a little more grace for yourself and the chaos we’re all navigating.
Hi. So hello everybody. Good to see you. In case you're wondering who I am, I am Miss Shannon Paul. I'm a variety of word related things by trade, including a comedian, a corporate speaker, a voice actor, an event MC, and a benefit auctioneer. I'm also the proud parent of an adorable 18 year old kiddo who happens to be high supports on the autism spectrum. So I'm happy to join you on this Thursday for Comedy Through the Chaos, our caregiver edition. If I touch my face a lot, don't hold it against me.
I am in the midst of Minnesota where we are being impacted greatly by the wildfire smoke from Ontario. So I hope that the people nearest that region are doing as well as can be expected with all of the chaos that they are dealing with. What we've got is this this hazy, smoky, terrible air quality thing that's going on here. I'm in my basement and still gross. But it does bring me to what I wanted to have a discussion with you about today. I thought I'd start with an update on summer school here in my household, or as I like to also call it, camp.
That has not changed. So this has been week two of summer school. Because of the way our school district works, it's only three weeks and it It's only half day. m. m. And I'll be honest with you, there's a couple of things about that that are not setting us up for success. m. m. And we normally only got there by like 9:30 or so. So I set some very realistic goals for us for what I wanted to get accomplished summer school. I wasn't like, you know what? We're going to get so much done in those 3 weeks that he's going to end up getting early admitted to Harvard.
That wasn't the goal at all. The goal that we set, that I set for our summer school slash camp experience was that we would get to school most days. It's regulated. So in a position to receive some sort of interactions with the staff there. And that was the goal. So I wasn't worried about the time that we got there, just that we would get there, regulate it as many days as possible. And the other goal was that my kiddo would take the school transportation van home every day that he went to school.
So that was the two things. So those are already big enough for us to make sure that we're there and regulated and to take school transportation home because he hasn't taken school transportation home since he was little. I've been driving it back and forth for the last couple of years. And so we started last year with like one day a week. And then I decided that for me, I need to rip the mom bandaid off and just go, let's just see how it goes. And we'd start that throughout the summer. And so, what, we got to school this morning, took a few more minutes to regulate, but we got there and he was cool.
And he took the school van home. So that was good. But what I've noticed has already creeped back in. is that, oh, we should be doing more. We should be accomplishing more. Why aren't we doing this? And I had to catch myself because that is not what I started out set as our goals. So I was moving my own goalposts. I was taking the goalposts and adding on distance and making it a more difficult goal to reach. first two goals that I set were worthy, were made when I was thinking clearly, when I was in a position to go, what are the things that we most need to work on right now?
They're really good goals. They were the right goals. And nothing about that has changed in the last week and four days. But isn't that what happens is that we end up moving those goalposts in those quiet, sneaky ways. It's not like we sit down most of the time and go, oh, it's just not enough that I've been doing the things that I was trying to accomplish or it's not enough that I'm pretty close to those things. I'm already going to start shooting for something that's a lot harder to do. It sneaks up on us and your brain just starts moving it incrementally sometimes.
It starts adding on layers that you didn't even have like a discussion with yourself about. It just decided for you that you should have an additional goal that was made when you retired, was made when you were stressed out, was made when you were fortune telling about something that might happen 20 years from now. When the first goals that you set were probably the right ones and you deserve to sit there and go, you know what? I made it to those goals and that's a good thing. And I'm happy about that.
And I'm giving myself some time to rejoice in where we are versus trying to continue on to something else that we haven't set yet. So I would love for you to go and take a little time to be introspective on the subject matter of, are you moving your own goalposts? Are your goalposts creeping away? When you turn your back or you close your eyes for a second to rest, do the goalpost get up and take a few steps farther away and make that shot harder? And then are you realizing that that's happening?
Or is it happening in such a quiet, sneaky way that you're like, why does it seem so hard? when in reality, what you're working towards doesn't have to be that hard. Maybe it's something that you are achieving and you're not even giving yourself credit for it because you let that goalpost creep away. So think on that. If there's something that you're like, you know, I set this goal and I moved on from it so quick, I didn't even have a chance to sit there and throw the confetti up into the air that we were making it.
because you know what I'm giving myself lots of confetti I told him when he got home I'm like good job dude I'm proud of you and then he did his teenager thing and slunk off to his room and I'm not going to complain about it today because the air is terrible air is hurtful hurtful and I'm offended by it so I'ma let him stay in his room for today and tomorrow we will do the shame two goals can I get him there Is he self-regulated and ready to interact with his staff? And does he take the school transportation van home?
And if we do both of those things, goal achieved. And we got one more week to keep working on it. So think on that. Make sure that you give yourself time and space in the goals that you are setting and you don't let them run off. like a cartoon character grab them stake them into the ground plant them firmly and stay to the goals that you have right now for you and the people that you care for and you care about regarding the way we live here in the cadre sphere please continue to take care of yourself stay hydrated stay in the the position of rest in the way that you can give yourself time to inhale and exhale because both are required and always let us know what we can do here in the cadre sphere to continue to support you, to be part of your community, to be part of your family, because that is what we are continuing to build here.
m. Central. I may do it upstairs so we can look out into the haze today. One of my friends was very hashtag positive about the whole situation, so I will share what she shared. She said, well, you know what? The sunrise and the sunsets will be glorious through all of this haze. So enjoy what you can. m. Central. And as I always like to say, I hope that the day treats you well. If it doesn't, shame on it, not shame on you. Thanks for being here everybody. I love you.
