Any anxious person will tell you that it is the little things that get in the way and hold them back from achieving their dreams. Seems to me that most people want to walk the same general path in life. Though it may not look exactly the same for everyone, most aspire for love/companionship and the means to enjoy life and make fond memories. As Mark Twain said, “To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.”
In general, people have a pretty clear vision of their ideal destination — what the end of their path is supposed to look like. It’s been this way for me in so many of my pursuits.
I’ve had a few key goals in my life.. One was to get married and have a family. Another was finding out what really happened to my dad and coming to peace with it. A task that I chased out of my mind for decades until I couldn’t ignore it any longer. Logic along with what felt like promptings from beyond the veil, or the other side of the grave — however you choose to phrase it — planted my feet firmly on that path, and I haven’t looked back since.
After years of research and connecting, there were pieces of my dad’s story I learned to be true. Then suddenly, this year, something came out of thin air that redefined the narrative completely.
I can’t disclose the story as it is still unfolding, but I will share more in the future as I’m able.
It’s somewhat reminiscent of my early adult life. I’d always pictured that I was going to get married by age 23, have several babies, and live in a little house with a white picket fence. I was going to be this cute skinny young mom in jeans and a tie-dye t-shirt and life was going to be perfect. What happens when you end up enduring over two decades living with roommates who range across the entire gamete of psycho instead of living with your own children? (I could tell toe-curling stories from over 25 years of single living…and to be fair I had many wonderful roommates I adore to this day...but...) And then finding your sarcastic Prince Charming out of the blue when your high school classmates were starting to become grandparents? However, Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome does not disappoint-especially with that accent!
How do we respond when our course turns suddenly on a dime? It reminds me of the ubiquitous scene from Saturday morning cartoons: a fat little black bomb that dropped out of nowhere and changed the entire course of the story.
How does it feel? How do you cope with the whiplash you get?
You can feel the blast of that fat little black bomb going off, propelling you off on a new fork on the path. It’s not always a bad thing but man, it can hurt! It’s almost like setting out on a road trip to the beach and finding yourself in a chateau overlooking a lush green alpine valley. What happens when you’re nearly at the end of writing your book and God blesses, or curses, you with new information?
Do you go with it?
Or are you going to resist and allow the burning to continue as you try to ignore the fact that doing what you were doing before is getting you nowhere fast?
The way I see it, we can adapt and make decisions that help us get past the initial shock and move forward.
Or we can scream in loud indignation that things didn’t go as planned and watch our life’s mission crash and burn at our feet. Do the little things get in your way and blind your vision or do they propel you forward one day, one hour, one minute, and even one small second at a time?
The stratosphere is heavy laden with these little black bombs, poised to hit us at just the right time. Are we ready? How have they blessed/cursed your life? I look forward to your responses and will definitely be sharing stories of mine!