Sometimes the best laid plans do not work out the way we want them to and this morning was one of those times for me.
I had all intentions of coming home after dropping my children off to school to do Zumba class then write my blog. While I was in the grocery store getting the morning newspaper, my cell phone rang and it was the school. My daughter had forgotten to bring her red jeans in for the dress rehearsal for her Christmas concert. I was in Hamilton and anyone who knows what the morning traffic is like in Bermuda will understand the panic I felt at that moment, particularly when she told me the dress rehearsal was at 9am! I looked at my watch and it was already 8.15.
Gone was any sense of serenity I felt that morning and instead panic seeped through my being. For a moment I froze on the spot thinking about all the plans I would have to alter as a result of this hiccup. Then I snapped out of it realising the more time I delayed thinking about what I had to do rather than doing it would lessen my chances of getting to the school by 9.
I quickly went to the register paid for the newspaper and ran to the car. I started to car only to look down at the gas gauge to see that it was on Empty. I contemplated just risking it to see if I could get home and back without stopping for gas then thought otherwise so I had to make a stop at the gas station. All the while my feelings of peace were slowly but surely evaporating being replaced by hot flashes and seeing my daughter’s sad face because she would not have her full costume.
I managed to get home, stuff a few walnuts in my mouth to stave off the hunger pains and deliver the jeans to my daughter by 8.55 – how’s that for a supermom! I felt good about accomplishing what seemed like the impossible forty minutes before but then when I got home I realised I didn’t have enough time to do my Zumba class because I have other commitments that I have to do today. My mind raced about what to do. I opened the family room door to let the beauty of the day stream in – the day that I had not had time to see this morning because I was too busy trying to get my daughter what she needed.
I stood outside the door and inhaled the crispness of the air and looked at the green leaves and decided though I could not do Zumba, I had to be grateful for the fact that I was able to deliver my daughter’s costume to her rather than concentrating on what I could not do. It was then that I realised though I could not do my Zumba class, I could get on my elliptical for half hour and let my mind calm down while I exercised my body. So I did and I felt so much better afterwards.
It made me realise that even though we may think we are going to do one thing, sometimes it isn’t meant to be at that time but there is always room to alter our plans and just go with the flow. Focusing on what we can accomplish, releasing the tension and upset and doing the next best thing are sometimes better than feeling sorry for not doing what we wanted to do in the first place. And when we do we will find that we do gain satisfaction just in a different way.
Hanging on to the best laid plans when they can’t work, won’t work for us causes many of us more pain than just accepting we can’t do it all, be it all but we can be flexible.
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