When placed in a situation that is challenging, what do you think about? Do you grumble and moan about things? Find yourself second-guessing everything? Simply lie down and go to sleep? Or do you focus on the solution. Find yourself up and moving more. Sit and simply feel grateful.
When I was traveling and in a period of transition, unclear as to where I wanted to be or what I was going to be doing, I heard myself complaining a lot. I had many friends and even some acquaintances that offered to help me during this difficult time. It wasn’t always easy to accept this help but I did and will be eternally grateful for it.
Some offered me vehicles to drive, some offered me jobs, and others gave me a place to stay. And in some cases, a few nights in the spare room unintentionally turned into a few weeks.
Now that I am finally settling into my own space again, I find myself paying it forward so to speak, offering to help a friend who is also in transition. I’ve been there, I know what it’s like, and yet having someone in my little space is proving more challenging than I thought it would.
I found myself actually going for a run through the park today, on the hottest day of the year AND after slipping on my deck this morning and bashing my right knee quite badly. And I never run. Ever.
My whole body seems to be reacting to my current situation, that of having someone in my space and of still being in transition myself in terms of my career and my next steps financially.
And yet, even amidst all of this anxious energy and dis-ease, as I sit here icing my knee I find myself focused on gratitude.
Gratitude for all the help I have received. Gratitude for the space I’m now in. Gratitude for the heat of Ontario summers and for central air conditioning. Gratitude for my friend who is sleeping on my couch and showing me that I have changed: that even amidst a bit of disruption and uncertainty, which in the past would have involved a lot of grumbling and moaning, I am now in a place where my focus is shifting to gratitude.
I remember attending a workshop once, something I like to do to get the creative juices flowing. I met one of my dearest friends at this workshop. She later expressed to me that she hadn’t found the workshop very useful and had thought it was a bit of a waste of time to which I replied, “But that’s where we met. I’m certainly grateful for that part of it.”
Workshops, finances, relationships, they can all hold their stresses and disappointments, but in turning the focus to something, anything, that we can be grateful for in the situation – be it a lesson learned, a new connection, a small and seemingly insignificant change in the weather, or the day you started running through the park – the whole experience can hold new meaning. And life? It just gets easier.
Things I've Learned 