You’re OK & Everything’s Going To Be All Right
Nothing is Permanent
“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
You didn’t wake up to your alarm this morning. You didn’t floss your teeth (I won’t tell). You had an argument with your teenager. Your water was turned off — the water company’s mistake. Your child’s teacher is a bully, and your significant other broke up with you.
Geez! You’re life is messed up! I mean, look at how great things are going for everyone else. What’s wrong with you?
…ABSOLUTELY, NOTHING!
Everyone’s life is “messed up” in many ways — it’s never just one. What? Are you so special, you’re the only one who gets to be imperfect? That wouldn’t be fair now, would it? We all have the freedom to be as screwed up, confused, overwhelmed, and ignorant as we choose. And it’s pretty interesting to observe other people’s choices.
Life IS constant change. It has this, sometimes excruciating, perpetual forward motion that keeps pushing us into the next second…minute…moment. And, we’re pushed into the future right along with it.
Outside of your little world, is a larger world full of people in their little worlds. Billions of little worlds are sharing one big world. What they do is going to affect you, and what you do is going to have an effect on them.
While you’re going about your day, other people are creating situations and circumstances that will directly and indirectly impact you today, next month, or even in another year.
Life is a tornado swirling around you. It’s fast, moves in unpredictable ways, and it’s a deafening chaotic presence that sometimes throws debris of many different sizes at you.
Are You Cozy in Your Tornado?
There you are, standing in the middle of a tornado. You have two magical indestructible shields that you can put up anywhere around you — no, you can only have two — just like everyone else. Where should you put them?
It’s impossible to completely protect yourself from the world around you, but it is possible to put a couple of barriers up. And, since you can’t block everything coming toward you, two shields seem most realistic. Now, you have some options:
- One in front of you, and one behind you; but it leaves you exposed on the sides and top.
- You could make a teepee over yourself.
- One on each side
- Both on same side to completely block your front, or your back, or a side
- Tie one to each of your arms and use them like a superhero. (This one’s my favorite!)
Whichever one you choose is up to you. I don’t think there’s any one “right” way. You may find that most of the debris comes at you from behind, while someone else may keep getting it from the side.
This not only illustrates how unpredictable life can be, but also why judging others is ridiculous. How could you possibly decide for someone else if they’re using their shields correctly, when you can’t even figure it out for yourself?
On the other hand, the people you think “have it together” are the ones you happen to be looking at from the side where one of their shields are set up. Many, for the sake of appearances, will take debris, decorate it so it looks pretty and make it look like a shield.
When The Debris Reaches You
Yes. The troubles, the obstacles, the annoyances, and the mountains come to us from time to time; and, unfortunately, occasionally, a bunch at the same time. Often, it’s simply a struggle, mentally, to move forward with the mundane regular day.
The medium-scale troubles that take a day or a few months to remedy: refrigerators break down, children get in trouble at school, and mysterious purchases are made on the credit card; can be taken care of with the proper actions. They come and go.
But, then the BIG stuff happens, like: relationships end, loved ones pass away, a disease takes over your body, or a hurricane destroys your whole city. Those take longer to recover from. They can take years to overcome.
REMEMBER…
Life can seem like a continuous struggle. In many ways, it is. Just remember that that’s true for everyone, not just you. So, you’re not alone. You’re NEVER ALONE.
There are more people than you can imagine, with whom you can talk to about anything going on in your life. If you look in the right places, you’ll find many people who have been through the same things.
From larger struggles that take years to pass, to the small things that take one swift action to get rid of; one thing remains true about them all: They DO go away. Life keeps changing, slowly morphing into another environment in which you still exist, but wiser and with better shielding skills.
Circumstances pass by. Troubles pass by. People pass by. Time moves forward, and so do you.
