Saturday Serenity: The Week That Wasn’t

 

[courtesy https://gamedevbrain.wordpress.com]

To say I’ve had an extremely challenging week is putting it mildly.  I can’t remember the last time I’ve had such a week where everything went utterly wrong (or appeared to go wrong).

From disappointing news, to showing up for appointments that were cancelled (oops, sorry Cher, we forgot to tell you) to not one but two pizzas ruined upon delivery (first one sticking to the cardboard and when a replacement pizza was sent half of the pizza slid off and onto the inside of the box), it is time to push the reset button.

It makes me wonder why all of this nonsense occurred in the span of a week.  Was it just bad luck, karma, happenstance, or was there something underlying the entire sad scenario?  Trying to figure all of this out, I started to think about the fact that in many of the circumstances it could very well have ‘appeared’ to be a bad experience, but in fact, perhaps it might turn out to be just the opposite in the long run.  In other words, some of the things I think happened that made them receive a primary spot on my ‘That’s not cool’ list, could be clearing space for something better.

[courtesy http://media.danoah.com]

Have you noticed that at times there are experiences which, at the moment, seem downright miserable, only to realize later that they were literally blessings in disguise? Even the pizza place gave me some redemption (literally) as they refunded my money and are sending me a voucher for a free pizza in the future.  I’ll probably go to their restaurant next time instead of delivery, but maybe that will prove to be a great experience that otherwise wouldn’t have happened had the cardboard sticking, slider pizza situations not occurred.

This isn’t just ‘positive thinking’ or ‘making the best of something’, I really think these things do happen for a reason.  I know it is up to me to just roll with it and in time I might find out that, “This or something better” is true (my mom says this a lot and she’s right).  Disappointment, I think, can sometimes be an actual disguise that leads to better circumstances. On the surface, our disappointment translates into negative thoughts, and a ‘why did this happen’ mindset.

[courtesy http://www.tomferry.com/]

But what if some of the very things that happened this week were clearing space for the ‘better’ stuff to show up.  Now, trying to explain delays and other annoyances might even come down to timing; the person on the street who desperately needed someone, anyone to smile in their direction wouldn’t have happened if I had not experienced a delay.

I sure don’t have all the answers, but I think the old hindsight is a great way to look back to realize that something else was at play instead of putting it down to ‘just a bad coincidence’.  Perhaps I was being rerouted on purpose in order to ‘not’ get what I thought I wanted.  I know it is hard to see the ‘why did this crap happen’ answers, but I do believe sometimes we just have to trust in the benevolence of the Universe and know that our best interests are at play.

If we think back and can honestly say, “Wow, am I ever glad that happened or didn’t happen even when I thought it should or shouldn’t, because “insert the whatever here!” now things are so much better! Whew!  I like to think of it as rerouting; you know, like the corn mazes that show up at Halloween.  We go one way, but we run smack-dab into a corn patch; but trying an alternative path we get a much better outcome.

Right, with the reset button pushed, I’m ready to just let the junk of this past week be seen only from a rear-view mirror perspective.  I need to begin getting excited about the cool things that are coming my way.  A thought came to me yesterday which I think is appropriate for looking ahead:

“Anticipation is the elixir of life.” 

[courtesy http://eyumocheolaoki.com/]

I’m anticipating great things coming to me, and if any of them ‘suck’ for lack of a better word, then I’ll anticipate something else.  Here’s hoping you anticipate very good things coming your way, because that’s what I’m sending out to you for the week ahead! 🙂