Lessons from my child’s therapist: Keep choosing love.
At the end of me sending a frantic email, in a state of panic. My child’s writes back with a simple but powerful reminder: Keep choosing love.
Even through email, I imagined her saying this gently, almost as a whisper—yet it’s a phrase that continues to echo through my mind, especially during the hard moments. The moments when I feel discouraged, when hope feel like its slipping away. When I doubt myself and whether i’m strong enough to keep going. (stronger. Or should I say taller—sorry, short person joke!)
But what does it really mean to keep choosing love?
To me, it means having courage. It means being brave enough to soften, in a world that often tells us to harden. Choosing love isn’t always easy—it’s actually the harder choice most of the time. But its one that matters most.
Choose love on those tough morning.
When you’re exhausted, frustrated, unsure if you’re doing anything right.
Choose love when your child is in their room, overwhelmed—not out of defiance, but maybe because they’re beatifying themselves up and don’t know how to ask for help.
Choose love by gently saying, Hey, lets go get a haircut. Grab some warm food. Let me remind you that life can feel good again.
Choose gentleness. Choose empathy. Choose care.
Choose love because it brings us back to what people need—kindness, humility, understanding. Including for ourselves.
Choose love when you want to react with irritation.
Pause, breathe.
What if you answered instead with a loving voice, understanding eyes, and listening ears?
It changes everything.
A reminder to help your children to also show others empathy and kindness , to chose love when their fellow classmate might really desperately need it.
Thank you therapist. I think of your words often.
Encourage your children to choose love—to when a classmate is sad, or when someone across the room just needs a smile, a little warmth’s, to be reminded they exist and that they matter. When everyone just wants human connection, to feel like they belong. To not be judged.
Choose love when the day has been long and you need to look in the mirror and say i’m doing my best.
Choose love by treating yourself with kindness you offer others.
Choose love when you’ve had a hard day— but your smiling children are waiting for you, ready to love you just as you are.