I’m not against word art per se.
I know that positive words like “love” have been scientifically proven to invite an uplifting kind of energy to any home environment.
Personally, I don’t happen to adorn my walls with word art or phrases. That’s mostly because, and this is rather silly of me, I don’t want my wall décor to constantly be telling me what to do.
Bossy picture frames? No thank you.
HOWEVER, I recently took a phrase that I’d scribbled on a sticky note and graduated it to something a little more… colorful.
Delight in the Difficult.
Nobody famous said it, as far as I know.
I wrote it down after listening to a podcast about entrepreneurship.
These hard-working entrepreneurs weren’t rising to bigger and bigger challenges because they HAD to. They did so because they wanted to.
They didn’t simply tolerate the challenges. They invited the difficulties in.
You can see this quality play out with athletes and a whole host of other ambitious individuals in their fields.
In my view, the sentiment behind Delight in the Difficult is more about INTENTIONALLY creating challenging activities that move us toward our desired destination.
It’s not about doing a happy dance whenever we’re faced with UNINTENTIONAL events beyond our control like, oh, I don’t know, say, a global pandemic?
Then again, it probably doesn’t hurt to face unintentional difficulties with grace and curiosity rather than resistance.
We could all use a friendly reminder like that. The reason I share it with you here is because I believe children with learning differences don’t always see their difficulties as something to embrace.
And if we can help them INTENTIONALLY embrace challenging activities, at the right level, and at the right pace, we can help learners stair step their way to success.
First things first, though. In order to help them, we really need to gain their buy-in.
Feel free to print this Delight in the Difficult poster and hang it on the fridge, or frame it in a not-so-bossy picture frame, or slip it into the cover of your child’s school binder, wherever you find it most helpful.
I call it a poster but it’s really only standard printer paper size, 8.5 x 11 inches.
Bonus: In case you want options, I’ve included 2 more empowerment “posters.”
Champions Love a Challenge plus You Have Sooooo Got This. They offer the perfect encouragement for kids to embrace difficult challenges, but please feel free to print them for your own benefit as well. That can be our little secret if you’d like (wink).
All three empowerment posters for kids (and the rest of us) are ready for you as a single downloadable file (pdf). Find it inside The Free Printables Collection. Subscribers, sign in here.
Haven’t signed up yet? Fill in the box below. Then enjoy the “delightful” surprises that are waiting for you!
