Watch out for that pothole!

Mother Nature seems to be in a bit of personal crises. The weather is warming and cooling. Freezing and thawing.

One minute bright sunshine, the next severe winter weather is breathing down your neck.

Rain. Snow. Black Ice. Sleet. Sludge. Mud. Freezing Fog.  The weather people show maps lit up like the aurora borealis.

So happy that they are finally able to use all of their fancy schmancy technology to describe what is happening or going to happen or what just happened.

With all of this weather, one thing is for certain: potholes!  They appear like magic.  One day your commute is smooth and calm.  The next day, attentive drivers must swerve to miss a gaping hole in the pavement.  (Unlucky drivers, not able to see disaster looming ahead, are treated to a body-jarring jolt.)

Encounter a sufficient number of potholes, and your car is going to need an alignment to put everything back in proper place. That’s how potholes work — for the unprepared, the unsuspecting, the inattentive, they can be disasterous.

I saw a sign at an auto garage the other day that said, “Need a front end alignment?”  I was immediately struck by how many people need an alignment to their attitude.  Oh, that we could just drive up to a garage and order an attitude adjustment.

You know how it is.  You’re going along, singing your song, birds are singing, things are fine and then suddenly you encounter a pothole!

“Whew!” you think, as you safely swerve around it. “Glad I avoided that disaster.”

But before long, as is often the case, you fall victim to a circumstance of some type or another. Something you had little, if any, control over.   If you’re not diligent, life’s potholes can negatively affect your attitude.  And if that happens — watch out — you’re going to need an alignment!

Often, it’s not the huge things that get to us. No, we see those coming and we’re able to prepare to face them head on.

What we have to guard against are the small, seemingly insignificant problems we encounter every day as we go about our business. Those are the things that slowly get us off track  — little by little — until one day, we wake up to discover our attitude needs a serious alignment.

Be attentive. Watch where you’re going. Don’t fall prey to the little challenges you encounter daily. For if you’re not careful, they will combine into a large, seemingly insurmountable obstacle.  As Ralph J. Bunche said,

You can surmount the obstacles in your path if you are determined, courageous and hard-working.

Never be fainthearted. Be resolute, but never bitter . . .

Permit no one to dissuade you from pursuing the goals you set for yourselves.

Do not fear to pioneer, to venture down new paths of endeavor.

Whatever you are, watch out for the potholes in your path!

Deanna

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The Beginning of Always

Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along.

A day merely survived is no cause for celebration.

You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine.

No more busy work. No more hiding from success.

Leave time, leave space, to grow.

Now. Now! Not tomorrow!

~ Og Mandino

Yesterday, October 15, I “celebrated” my one year anniversary of being downsized, right-sized, restructured out of a job.

I now have 12 month’s experience of “doing things my way.”  For the most part, a good thing (as I sit in my pajamas, writing this blog and contemplating the twists and turns my life has taken), but depending on how much money you need to have in your bank account to sleep comfortably at night, maybe not such a good thing.

Looking back on my structured, corporate-approved life, I realize how many challenges I missed, the large number of opportunities I never recognized, and the long hours that were invested into a career that ultimately turned into several weeks of severance pay.

Meeting deadlines, filing reports, sitting in meetings, participating on teleconferences, always thinking that I would have the opportunity to catch up on my life tomorrow, or the day after that, or on the weekend. But not today. Today I was very busy.

I celebrate this milestone because I feel that I have done more than merely survive the past year.  I lived my life. Although there were times of waiting and indecision and cutting back, I have made progress in ways that would have been impossible (or impractical) if I still had a real, adult, “look at me I work for a great company” job.

I stretched my limits, ran past my boundaries, explored new skills and talents, reconnected with friends, enjoyed meeting so many new acquaintances, broke through the fear, and increased my confidence.

Maybe “they” no longer want me to do that, but I discovered that I am AWESOME at (and really enjoy) this!

I have learned that “uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. You shouldn’t let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity” [R. I. Fitzhenry].  And trust me on this, I know of what I speak.  I’ve had more than my fair share of uncertainty and mystery in the past 12 months or so.

Several other important lessons I’ve learned:  take a deep breath (it calms the nerves), keep a good attitude, maintain the proper perspective, you’re stronger than you realize, accept the challenge when it comes along, make time for yourself, ask for assistance, look for ways to help others, and live your life today!

Not tomorrow, not next week, not when you have a job offer, not when the contract is signed, not when the kids are back in school, not after vacation or the holidays or at the new year — TODAY!

Remember today,
for it is the beginning of always.

Today marks the start of a brave new future
filled with all your dreams can hold.
~Unknown

What a difference a day makes. This day. Today. It is the beginning of your always.

“Kiss your life. Accept it just as it is. Today. Now. So that those moments of happiness you’re waiting for don’t pass you by” [unknown].

Whatever you are, be a good one!

Deanna

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