Nudged: Offer to babysit

This Nudge is a late addition to my list, inspired by the sweet family across the street who recently welcomed a baby.

There are many layers to why I’m doing this. 1) I want to help. 2) I often think about how I’d be helping friends of all ages if we lived closer to each other. Because I can’t be there in person for several people I love, I like to imagine I’m adding service to the big pot in the sky and perhaps a neighbor is helping out one of them in the same spirit. 3) This is hard for me. As many of you know, I am childless-not-entirely-by-choice, and I still have moments in which I grieve my losses. Will this Nudge reopen those wounds? Possibly. But I feel strongly that this will be a good Nudge, a healthy Nudge, one that will help me expand my circle of friends and family of choice.

So, I’m going to suck up my courage this week and make the offer.

How might you make this your own? Perhaps offer to help out a neighbor or friend in some way. Perhaps you’ll decide to face down a fear. Or maybe you’ll lower your guard and accept someone else’s offer to help you for a change. Be brave, my friend.

What Happened: Oh, my goodness, this was hard. It took me a couple of days to work up my courage, but I did, and I sent the text message. And…crickets. Did I overstep? Did I come across as the crazy childless lady?! Aaarrghhh!!!

Breathe, Kath, breathe.

It’s entirely possible the young mom across the street is overwhelmed, sleep-deprived, and has no time to keep up with emails, voicemails, text messages, and anything else not directly related to infant-care. Which is exactly why I hope she’ll take me up on my offer one day soon.

The Ah-Hahs: One of the rules for Nudges is that I do things that are uncomfortable. This certainly met the criteria! And yet, I also know it’s often those uncomfortable steps that lead to big change, big growth, and big new awarenesses.

I don’t yet know what all this Nudge has to teach me, but I do feel that I took one more small step toward becoming the stronger, more open, woman I want to be.