What do you do when life throws you a curveball? What about those times when the curveballs just keep coming, like a pitching machine that’s gone haywire?
What do you do when health problems, house issues, family or friends in crisis, financial issues, professional stressors, relationship woes, travel, or other challenges are coming one after another—or even simultaneously?
Everything is relatively okay in the larger senses: you’re not in a war zone, you have food and shelter and clean water, you have friends and family, you or your loved ones are receiving good care. Yet sometimes it can feel like everything is falling apart at once, especially when you or someone you love experiences a life-altering event.
When I feel overwhelmed, I tend to think, “When we get through this present difficulty, then we will have a break.” I am reminded of my late father, who often used the phrase, “When things settle down” as a preface for what he wanted to create in his life. Guess what? The dirty little secret is that things most likely never settle down. There will always be challenges asking you to divert your attention from your desires and dreams. You can choose to keep working, even in the midst of chaos. Seize the tiny bites of time that let you keep moving forward, even when it’s hard, even when your time is limited, even when you’re stressed out, even when the only quiet spot you can find is your car or the bathroom. Your dreams and goals want your attention, even if you can only devote tiny bites of time to them.
Peace can come from within. Peace can come from routines, including self-care practices. Peace can come from laughing at whatever you can within your present situation, something I learned from both of my parents. I was reminded of this in July, when my mom was in the hospital following a stroke. She and her husband and I found laughter even during those scary days of beginning to recover her speech, so much so that her roommate delighted in it.
Peace can come from making one tiny movement forward each day toward the life you dream of creating, no matter what is happening around you.
Tell me, how do you keep moving forward when life throws you a curveball?
[All words and images copyright Paula J. Kelly, unless otherwise credited.]