Life is like an avalanche of snow piled at the end of your driveway after a plow comes by. Worse when your life is on the corner of two streets. That plow leaves the major bulk of snow right there and heads away (sometimes I even think they are laughing as they go).
Digging out starts mentally. When you look out the window you see this mountain and think, “how in the world am I going to get it all cleaned up and myself to work on time?”
I guess this is what ran across my mind digging the abundance of snow off the driveway. While slowly removing the snow (layer by layer) I thought this is what has been going on in my life the last few months.
Circumstances come, life goes and we are left there to either ignore & hide, or deal with it head on. Everyone lives or not lives differently. After all the shoveling it made me think how I have been working on my avalanche. The following are three steps to “unlayering” that huge pile of snow called life.
Realization: First open your eyes to what is going on around you. If your path needs to change course then pay attention. I have known this for a bit and wanted to ignore life thinking it will just get better. No such luck. It was time to realize that I needed to make a u-turn and immediately.
Alto/Stop: being negative. I remember hearing someone say about a certain circumstance “ni modo que vas a hacer?” Roughly meaning “neither mode what are you going to do?” The action or thing happening in life was already done. Not much could be changed expect how one looked at the circumstances. The other day my washing machine broke, again (4th time in 2 yrs). Washing clothes by hand is not my area of expertise. When needed I get it done, but this time the washing machine was smoking. Not an easy fix even if we had the money. While washing clothes tears started to roll. I then stopped and said, “Tears are not going to wash these clothes. It has to be done so pick up the soap WASH.” Not everything is in our control (imagine my surprise). Sometimes we are left to pick up the pieces and use what remains. The alternative is to simply “stop living” and personally this hasn’t been working for me.
Move forward: is the last thing that can really be done. Stop worrying about what others think, say, or do. Move beyond the what if questions that so many of us ask. Take what we can change: mold it, refine it, and start all over again if needed. Living in the past or under others just hurts us, not anyone else! If you want to travel then do so. You may want to change your career and are afraid but, you won’t know until you try it. Maybe your entire life has been under what others say and think about you (guilty as charged). All I can say is,”why should it matter?” People will still have an opinion. Good or bad others will talk. You can do everything right and it still be wrong. So go out there, take life by the hand, and LIVE.
How have you cleared the avalanches in your life? What steps did you take?
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