{"id":959,"date":"2017-12-04T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T07:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/?p=959"},"modified":"2022-04-18T16:06:03","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T22:06:03","slug":"what-made-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/what-made-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"What Made the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I recently returned from a Family Reunion\/Thanksgiving\/Birthday Celebration, where I hosted and fed 47 relatives for 3 and \u00bd days!<\/p>\n<p>As my family will tell you, <strong>I am not a relaxed, easy going, \u201ccome what may,\u201d kind of person<\/strong>. And yet, <strong>this family event was wonderful and flowed<\/strong> so well and easily!<\/p>\n<p>It went so smoothly in fact, that even as we headed home after the event, I was thinking of what I\u2019d do differently<strong> next time<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>don\u2019t try gathering for breakfasts. People have different wake up times.<\/li>\n<li>Buy more plastic forks. You\u2019ll use more than you think.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t let turkeys and hams thaw in the fridge without being in containers to catch the melting liquids. Cleaning the fridge would be so much easier for my son. \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Make sure, long hair is pulled up high on the head when playing games involving tape. You can save your daughter\u2019s hair from the scissors but it will take some doing!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Notice that all these suggestions for improvements are pretty minor. What a blessing to not have regrets!<\/p>\n<p><strong>It wasn\u2019t always this way<\/strong>, though. Previous reunions that I\u2019ve hosted, I would be worried about any and every thing, feeling responsible and trying to make sure everything was just right, never being able to relax and enjoy the experience or the people I\u2019m with.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What made the difference?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Having learned:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>to accept who I am.<\/li>\n<li>to accept others for who they are.<\/li>\n<li>that trying to force things to be a certain way, does not work and only blocks love.<\/li>\n<li>that I can meet other\u2019s needs and serve others more fully when I have honored and loved myself as much as I honor and love them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You may read and agree and quickly gloss over these lessons, but I invite you to take a moment and explore how well you truly understand and have applied them in your life. What changes would you experience if you did?<\/p>\n<p>I invite you to experience a different holiday season this year by loving and accepting yourself and others just as you and they are!<\/p>\n<p>Much love,<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-462\" src=\"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/signature.png\" alt=\"Melanie Newman\" width=\"223\" height=\"73\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently returned from a Family Reunion\/Thanksgiving\/Birthday Celebration, where I hosted and fed 47 relatives for 3 and \u00bd days! As my family will tell you, I am not a relaxed, easy going, \u201ccome what may,\u201d kind of person. And&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/what-made-the-difference\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emotional","8":"category-mental","9":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Made the Difference? - Melanie B Newman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.melaniebnewman.com\/staging\/9944\/what-made-the-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Made the Difference? - Melanie B Newman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I recently returned from a Family Reunion\/Thanksgiving\/Birthday Celebration, where I hosted and fed 47 relatives for 3 and \u00bd days! 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