Did you ever have a project you were passionate about? You planned everything, lovingly took care of allthe details, made sure that all the t’s were crossed and all the i’s dotted, and then the phone rings…
That’s what’s happened to me today. I’m moving houses this summer and had meticulously prepared everything, planned, scheduled and organised. Just as I was happily putting my books into boxes, looking forward to unpack them in my shiny new office where the company of these great minds would inspire me, because, in mind I imagined how I would of course have the time to read them all, so, just when I was in my happy place, the phone rang.
Life threw me a curveball in form of a solicitor who apparently sees no reason to do her job and to deliver the necessary papers in time for me to buy my new house. Result: I might be homeless for a good part of the summer. Me and my books.
Can you imagine how I felt?
Now, I won’t pretend that for the first few minutes I wasn’t tempted to go into a full-blown self-pity drama of epic proportions, with a lamenting chorus in the background and me screaming high C’s (as a child I was such a drama queen, and I’ve kept a certain propensity in this direction. I wasn’t an opera singer for nothing!).
Then I caught myself.
I know from experience that being a drama queen goes stale after a couple of minutes, and rarely leads to anything useful, so I thought about how I wanted to feel. Because, with all outer circumstances blocked, the only thing I really could influence is how I felt and how I behaved.
This is what I did:
- I made a phone call that might or might not unblock the situation, but at least I tried
- I started to work on a plan B on for me (and my books)
- I knew that once I’ll have the keys for my new home, I’ll laugh about all this, so I might as well start laughing now.
- I packed the next box
It all comes down to perspective, I realised (for the umpteenth time), and how I decide to live: as a damsel in distress (read: eating all the chocolate in the house, even the one that is only for cooking, and feeling like the whole world’s victim). Or as a lady who elegantly plays with what life has to offer, even when, no especially when it’s a curve-ball.
