Sometimes the path to getting exactly what you want is littered with a few things you could do without. I’m learning that the less desirable aspects to realizing a goal are just a normal part of the process; and that it’s a choice to focus on where you want to go, rather than be distracted by the annoyances that show up along the way.
Choosing to see things from this vantage point is a huge departure from some of the ‘spiritual’ teachings I’ve learned over the years that insist that everything – absolutely everything – happens for a deeper reason. Yes, I think that there is an opportunity to learn from each experience, but I no longer believe that all things necessarily have some profound hidden message. One of the fun parts of growing up (not just growing older) is realizing that you get to figure things out for yourself. And I’ve come to feel that while sometimes things do happen for a deeper reason, sometimes they happen because, well…shit just happens.
I realized this earlier this week as I set out to give my bedroom a little makeover. I should backtrack to say that while many areas of my life are solid and steady, I am a perpetual re-organizer when it comes to my house. I love to move furniture from room to room, paint a wall on a moment’s notice or even transplant my bedroom into the living room (but that only happened once and it was years ago). Moving things around always gives me a fresh perspective, and makes me feel like I’ve totally redecorated, typically without purchasing a single new item.
Most of the time I’m all about color, and even though I won’t be putting a finger (for now) on my beloved Blue Room, I suddenly decided that I needed everything in my bedroom to be pale, serene and light. I guess there is something about a new fresh new year that inspires a need to clear out and begin anew. Luckily, my bedroom walls were already a beautiful light color (it’s called Blank Canvas in case you were curious) but my textiles (bedding and curtains) were decidedly colorful and patterned. This meant the fun task of purchasing a new white duvet and curtains. When I brought the new comforter home, naturally I wanted to wash it first, but this set off a series of fiascoes so extreme that I wondered if I was on a decorating version of Punk’d.
First off, my washing machine malfunctioned with the comforter in it and I opened the washer door to find my pristine white duvet covered in brown gunk. I immediately put the mess in the bathtub to hose it off, then wrapped it in a sheet and carried the wet bulky blob past my garden to the car, not realizing that in the process, I broke the stem off a new bloom on my FAVORITE orchid plant that only flowers once a year. Then, I threw the dripping mound in the back of my car, not realizing that my yoga bag was back there, which got soaked and bled bright pink and orange color back onto the comforter. I drove straight to the Laundromat and managed to get the blanket into a huge machine, and by some miracle, it came out of the wash basically white again. Then I put it in the dryer, only to realize after the fact that the inside of the old machine was covered in black gunk, which added dark spots onto the comforter.
I’m pretty sure that the Old Me would have gone to an overly analytical, worrysome place, searching for the deeper meaning of all of this. I would have thought that maybe turning my bedroom into a pale haven was a mistake, or that I didn’t ‘deserve it’ because there are people less fortunate than me who don’t even have the option to redecorate. Or, I would have thought that the store where I purchased the comforter (Target) is just a huge corporation filled with bad energy. Or I would have thought that my garden was doomed in 2012 because my beloved orchid flower snapped off the first week of the year. Or maybe I would have worried that there was some deeper message about unseen troubles with my yoga practice because my bag bled onto the wet blanket.
Whew!!! Isn’t it amazing where the mind can go?
Yes, the entire process of getting the white blanket from the store onto my bed was filled with many annoyances, but I was so happy to see that somehow, this time, I was able to roll with each step of the way. Rather than think the worst about my little makeover, or that some deeper meaning of doom was hidden inside, I realized that sometimes sucky things happen in the greater scheme of reaching your ultimate goal. This is normal. This is life. It happens.
In the end, I’m very happy to report that my (mostly) white new blanket is cozily on my bed, and that I’m loving sleeping on a peaceful white cloud.
Good night and sweet dreams!
A story that just goes to show you how one thing leads to another, which leads to another, but sometimes things turn out alright in the end.