Learned optimism

B and I were talking about teaching the kids to have confidence that there's nothing they can't do. He said he thinks I do that for them, but not for myself. I think it's that if I don't have self-efficacy for something, then I have little self-confidence that I might be able to do it if I tried. I have done many things I never thought I could do. But I guess at some point I decided I might be able to do it if I worked hard at it. Marathon, ironman, graduate school, childbirth, dancing. Those are the main ones. Today and yesterday I caulked the bathroom. I didn't think I could do that, but I read the directions, and it looks pretty good. The weird thing was I asked B if I should paint the exercise room and he just kind of looked at me then said you'd have to move everything. Then that was the end of the conversation. I'm not good at painting per se, but I think I could do an ok job if I were very diligent. I want the kids to believe they can do anything they really want to do. At the same time I want them to know if they try something and fail, it's ok to go in a different direction, or try again.