This Is Your Life!
So many images come to mind with that sentence.
- Of course the very old (nearly before our time) TV Show… “Susie-Lynn McGillicuddy… This is YOUR Life!”
- A guidance counselor trying to get us to make a decision about a college
- Something we try to remember when every cell in our body screams, “I want my real life back!”
More…
We all make plans and we’ve all had things happen. The company gets sold, a family member gets ill, or the car breaks down. Life Happens. Not S.H.I.T Happens. L.I.F.E. Happens.
Because that’s what life does.
When Life Takes a Turn
Hurricanes happen—whether they are personally devastating or a one or two week hurdle of inconvenience—they sure mess up your schedules and wreak havoc with the To-Do list. Parents, kids, bosses, spouses, and personal tragedies all make us pause or speed up, shift direction or go more determinedly forward, rage unreasonably at a loved one or just sit down and cry. And nearly every time we create more internal stress by continuing to glorify the life before or imagine the unicorn and rainbow life of the future. And always, we just want to get back to our real lives.
We actually tend to do this during good times as well. Some of us may remember planning our wedding and having a moment or two thinking, “I just want it to be over so we can LIVE OUR LIVES.’ We each know at least two moms who felt that way during their third trimester (and we suspect that most of the others were lying).
Seriously, This Is Your Life
Well, we have news for you—whether you’re 20-something (and if so what the heck are you doing here?) or 60-something or somewhere between—wake up and smell the coffee. That thing that’s going on with you right now? That thing is Your Life. How we handle it when sugar or the brown stuff happens will make a huge difference on what happens down the road.
Of course a plethora of self-help books, videos, programs, religions, and yoga or meditation classes all offer us ways to learn to be “be fully present”. Some people seem to be better at this than others, and perhaps they have something to teach us. For us, it’s something we need to work on continually. Right now, Lynnelle and her sister and their guys are doing the best they can to take care of their Mom. That’s their focus and that’s where it needs to be.
As Lynnelle said in her elegant and heartbreaking post yesterday, we will get back to our regularly scheduled quirky, smile-inducing, fun, vibrant posts. We encourage you to stick with us if that’s why you’re here. But if you’re here to be part of something that resonates with all women of a certain age, then you’re for all of it: the good, the bad, and the hurdles. If so, we look forward to learning more about you and to growing together.
If you can, share your story about that one time when couldn’t wait for your “real life” to start up again. I bet we can learn from it.
In the meantime, the sun will come up tomorrow. Here’s a reminder from a day at sea.
