Pam Fullerton, PhD

One Thistle at a time….

thistleFeeling overwhelmed? Maybe my story will help. I had so much on my plate, I was in school, I had a full-time practice, part-time teaching and I was going through a terribly stressful time in my life. I am fortunate that I love my work, teaching and school. The stressful event in my life impacted me in a way that my life out of balance. I could not keep up on all that I had to do. My garden had become out of control and I knew I needed to weed it. The thistles were as tall as me! As I looked out at the span of thistles that I had to weed, I felt completely overwhelmed. I didn’t think I would ever finish and I had so many other things that I needed to accomplish that day. I decided that I was only going to look at the one thistle in front of me and pull it. I was not going to lift my head and look at the vast amount of thistles that needed pulling. I decided that I would do this until I was tired and then begin again the next day. So, I started weeding, pulling only the thistle in front of me and never looked up. I felt like I was lost in the land of thistles! BUT, something surprising happened. Before I knew it, I was done!! Honestly, it went so incredibly fast that I wasn’t convinced that I had finished. I looked for more thistles but I could not find anymore thistles. I was done! I was in shock and awe. I am a “big picture” kind of person, meaning that I tend to see the whole picture rather than what is right in front of me. You know, the kind of person who is going on a business trip and thinks and plans everything that needs to be done weeks or months before you go. Some people think about the trip the day before, not me! So my thistle experience taught me that, at times when I feel overwhelmed with all I need to accomplish…..think…..”one thistle at a time”.

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If you want to learn more about relationships – I wrote this for you “Ten Essential Things I’ve Learned About Marriage & Relationships” I’ve included the lesson that saved my marriage. I care about the work that I put out to you, and I hope you find it helpful. Please let me know! And you can keep up with my writing on relationships, random thoughts and more by subscribing here. I’m here to help and to know that you are out there reading means so much to me! Thanks for reading!  One more thing… I really would love for you to share your thoughts with me. I know it is not easy to do! I understand because it took me a long time to work up the courage to begin blogging! But I want to get to know you. When you feel ready, please feel free to share your thoughts with me in the comment section.  If you think this blog will help a friend, please share it with them or share it on Facebook and Twitter! Details of any stories told in my blogs have been changed to protect the identity of people that I work with in therapy.

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