• Stepmom Advice: One Tip to Less Frustration: Staying In Our “Own Business”

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    Stepmoms Should Stay in Our Business

    Is everything that happens in our families “our” business?  Are we often getting involved in “other people’s” business?

    This is the key discussion for today’s show.  What do I mean?  I have always found it challenging to discern what exactly is “my business” within the family.  We may think that everything is our business, but is that true? You might initially think, “Everything is my business.  It’s my family.  I need to know what’s going on.  This is my house, my home, etc., etc.”

    Tell me if I’m wrong, but is the notion that everything is our business a cause for step mom burnout?

    First, let’s remind ourselves of the things in our lives that we can control.  The ex? No.  Our children?  No.  Our stepchildren?  No.  Our spouses?  No.  The only thing we can control is ourselves.  That’s a powerful tool.  Do you know that if we focus on the thing we can change, we can turn the dynamics of our family anywhere we want them to go.  Yes, it’s true.  That image of the helpless step mom is a fable as strong as the fable of Cinderella.  It’s not true.

    According to Byron Katie, there are only three kinds of business in the universe:

    • Mine
    • Yours and
    •  God’s

    You may notice that the times when you are most frustrated or hurting are the times that you are out of your own business.  Of course, your custody arrangements affect the determination of whose business you are in, but for most of us, we may want to play the game below.  Whose business are you in when the following happens:

    1. The ex wants to change schedules:  Not our business  (Yes, your partner and yourself need to have a system in place for all logistical issues, but your business is not to get in the middle of this conversation)
    2. The ex and your partner are discussing whether or not a child gets to go somewhere:  Not our business
    3. Our boss wants to talk to us about a new project at work:  Our business
    4. A stepchild talks to us disrespectfully:  Our business  (“Please do not talk to me like that.  I talk to you with respect and I expect the same back.”)
    5. There’s a huge storm and the house gets damaged:  God’s business

    Here are 3 tips from Byron Katie to help you to stay in your own business.

    1.  Count, in five-minute intervals, how many times you are in someone else’s business mentally.

    2.  Notice when you give uninvited advice or offer your opinion about something (aloud or silently).

    3.  Ask yourself: “Am I in their business? Did they ask me for my advice?” And more importantly, “Can I take the advice I am offering and apply it to my life?”

    Here is my show on this topic from The Stepmom Toolbox Show on BlogTalk Radio:

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