Got To, Get To – Change The Way Your Family Thinks

Written by Lindsay Small


I recently heard a story that has literally changedrepparttar way that I, and my family, think about life. The story is as follows:

There was once a high-powered woman in her 30s who ran her own company and was massively successful in business. Yet every single day, at 10am, she visited her elderly mother, who was in an old peoples’ home. When asked if she could attend meetings at that time, she would reply, “I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother”. She sometimes resentedrepparttar 150431 commitment and was occasionally ridiculed, but nevertheless answered, “No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother.”

One day her mother died. Soon afterwards she was asked if she could make a meeting at 10amrepparttar 150432 following day. She started to reply, “No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother”, but of course quickly realised that this was no longerrepparttar 150433 case. Sadly, she realised that for many years she had been saying, “I’ve got to visit my mother” when what she should have instead been saying was, “I get to visit my mother”. She would never "get to" visit her mother again.

So how doesrepparttar 150434 story relate to other situations? I have been surprised by how many timesrepparttar 150435 story has seemed appropriate since I heard it, just a few weeks ago. It applies to so many different aspects of family and working life, fromrepparttar 150436 large torepparttar 150437 mundane. For example, I first told my sonrepparttar 150438 story when he was complaining about some extra French classes he was having at weekends (“I can’t believe I’ve got to go torepparttar 150439 French tutor”). I explained that he is lucky to "get to" haverepparttar 150440 French classes: lucky that we care enough to notice he needs them, and lucky that we can afford to pay for them.

Got To, Get To – Change The Way Your Family Thinks

Written by Lindsay Small


I recently heard a story that has literally changedrepparttar way that I, and my family, think about life. The story is as follows:

There was once a high-powered woman in her 30s who ran her own company and was massively successful in business. Yet every single day, at 10am, she visited her elderly mother, who was in an old peoples’ home. When asked if she could attend meetings at that time, she would reply, “I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother”. She sometimes resentedrepparttar 150373 commitment and was occasionally ridiculed, but nevertheless answered, “No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother.”

One day her mother died. Soon afterwards she was asked if she could make a meeting at 10amrepparttar 150374 following day. She started to reply, “No, I’m sorry, I’ve got to visit my mother”, but of course quickly realised that this was no longerrepparttar 150375 case. Sadly, she realised that for many years she had been saying, “I’ve got to visit my mother” when what she should have instead been saying was, “I get to visit my mother”. She would never "get to" visit her mother again.

So how doesrepparttar 150376 story relate to other situations? I have been surprised by how many timesrepparttar 150377 story has seemed appropriate since I heard it, just a few weeks ago. It applies to so many different aspects of family and working life, fromrepparttar 150378 large torepparttar 150379 mundane. For example, I first told my sonrepparttar 150380 story when he was complaining about some extra French classes he was having at weekends (“I can’t believe I’ve got to go torepparttar 150381 French tutor”). I explained that he is lucky to "get to" haverepparttar 150382 French classes: lucky that we care enough to notice he needs them, and lucky that we can afford to pay for them.

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