Did you ever feel like life was conspiring against you? It’s like that often unfinished adage about the best laid plans…
I feel that ever since I returned from my seven week stay in New York City, it matters very little what I plan, life conspires to change those plans. In the process, my work just keeps piling up and keep getting more and more stressed.
Take today for example. I had most of the day to work. However, a client call ate up one hour of the day. Then an editor asked me to work on an article, which I thought was complete. The afternoon was supposed to be taken up by about an hour at my son’s eye doctor appointment, 30 minutes of a chiropractor appointment for myself, and an hour of driving my son to a dance class. However, my daughter fell at school. So, my two and a half hours (well, maybe it would have been more like three hours when it was all said and done) of time spent away from the office in the afternoon turned into five and a half. We had to go to the chiropractor twice: once for her and once for me. Then we had to go for X-rays. And we had to buy a splint. And we had to call doctor’s offices for appointments. And then we had to drop off her brother and eat dinner. Not to mention that at home I had to help her ice the hand and bandage it up. I didn’t get back to my office to really work until about 8:30 p.m. I left the office at 2:30 p.m.
What’s a gal to do? Nothing but what needs doing in the moment. I gave it up (to God?)…I did what had to be done. I went to doctors, radiologists, restaurants, etc. I handled the situation and basically put work out of my mind. And tonight when I got home, I worked for about two hours, fiddled around a bit on the Internet, and then decided to leave client work alone. I’m still here at 12:46 a.m., but only because I decided to work on some of my own projects. I decided to put myself first. I went with the flow of my own energy, which said, “Do what you need to do tonight, since you don’t have the energy or focus for your client’s work.(I was up until 2 a.m. doing that last night.) Tomorrow you can focus on your clients knowing you focused on your own work tonight.”
And that’s how I handled it all. No worries…well, maybe not none. However, when your children need you, you drop everything and put them first. I did the same last year when my son was ill for a prolonged period. And, you know what? I still managed to meet every work deadline. And I did it with very little stress.
So, what’s the lesson in that? It gets done. And it can get done without the stress. Life may conspire against us…or not (sometimes shit just happens)…and we just keep on going with the flow. It’s the best we can do sometimes. It’s the only thing we can do sometimes.
And, you know what? I really don’t think life does conspire against us. That’s a pretty negative thought. Let’s throw that one out right now. Life happens. God’s hand is in everything. We learn as we go. We become better people every day — if we try. We grow. We learn. We become stronger from everything “thrown” at us.
Maybe life actually conspires with us. That’s an interesting thought. Co-creation at its best. God’s hand and ours together.
