Surprise! Nothing is a big deal! I have a lot of trouble believing this, but I think I would like to.
The other night, I didn’t have anything plans or obligations, so as I was heading out from work I was planning on going to the coffee shop for what my friend calls “only child time.” My last couple days had been fairly busy so I was really looking forward to having such a big chunk of time to do nothing.
When I got home, much to my displeasure, some of my lights weren’t working. First, I decided to yell at my lights, and when they still didn’t work I messed with them until I figured out how to get the light bulbs out. Then, I walked all the way to the store (a couple minutes away by foot), and walked all the way back to put in my new light bulbs.
Throughout this whole process I was getting all worked up because I had made this grand plan of spending hours relaxing at the coffee shop and my life wasn’t working out like I had planned.
But eventually, as I got the whole ordeal sorted out, I realized, the whole thing had taken me a mere half an hour. I still had at least a solid two hours to spend at the coffee shop.
I had a roommate in college that would always say, if it happens that’ll be fine and if it doesn’t that’d be fine too. It sounds simple, but I think he had it right. Robert Frost had a similar insight that I really look up to:
“I can summarize everything I’ve learned about life in three words. It goes on.”
Obviously, I knew my life wasn’t going to end over a couple of defunct light bulbs, but it sure felt like it. It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment and believe that whatever is currently ruining your life is the biggest deal in the world. But it seems like life always has a way of ending up alright if we can just have the courage to wait it out.
from ken
Are you trying to change your life? I'd love to hear about it! ken.e.noguchi@gmail.com
photo by pasotraspaso
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