§ We came to this world to LIVE OUT LOUD!
When Life Hands You Lemons, Make Lemonade
One of my biggest life lessons is to slow down. And I’m a really bad student.
Can you relate?
Don’t get me wrong, I take care of myself and sleep, eat healthy, exercise and meditate. But I’m a passionate person who wants to squeeze every bit of life out of life. And this means being connected to my family and husband, having a successful business where I help lot of people, having a robust network of friends, doing fun things and traveling. It’s really hard for me to slow down and do less.
The Universe has tried to get my attention and teach me how to slow down.
About 9 months ago, I was rushing to pack for a trip to Mexico City and banged my toe against the door frame. I felt searing pain, looked down and saw my little toe off on a 45-degree angle.
I had 15 minutes to get ready for the taxi that was coming to pick me up and take me to the airport so I taped my toe, took two ibuprofens and got myself into that taxi. I barely made it to my friend’s house in Mexico City but she gave me her son’s size 13 shoes and more painkillers and we managed to have a great four days exploring the city.
I didn’t make much of a dent in learning to slow down.
Since I didn’t listen with the broken toe incident, the Universe upped the ante.
As you may know from my previous blog post, I sprained my ankle a couple of weeks ago and was put into a removable brace.
This was two days before I had to fly to Florida to do life here as my girls attended schools and other activities and I had to drive (which I can’t do with the leg brace), do laundry, shop, cook, etc. in an unknown city far from friends or my support network. Doctor’s orders were that I was supposed to stay off my feet and not walk more than a few feet at a time.
My mom came out to stay with us in our small rented apartment and I became completely dependent on her to keep our life going.
I was so grateful for my mom’s help but it was excruciating to be so dependent.
I was forced to slow down and I was not happy.
A few days into feeling sorry for myself, I realized that when life hands you lemons, make lemonade.
1. I’m always taken care of by the Universe.
Even though I didn’t choose these circumstances, I can see how the Universe has my back. My ankle improved just enough to bear weight on it with the brace the morning that I had to head to the airport. There were nice people to push me around in a wheelchair in both airports. I found a reasonably priced, rental scooter to get me around Universal on our first weekend in Florida and we got to go on numerous rides without making long lines. My girls stepped up to help out. My mom was able to come and help me out.
There is an orthopedic surgeon hanging out with his son at the center where I have had to spend a lot of time with my daughter – he examined my ankle, gave me tips on how to help it heal faster and taught me some exercises to help the rehab process. I’m really seeing how whatever I need is provided to me every step of the way.
The Universe always has my back so I can relax and stop trying to control everything.
2. Letting those who love me take care of me.
I love being independent and I like things the way I like them… so it’s really, really hard for me to let other people take care of me. I feel bad for asking for help. I feel dependent and needy. I don’t always want things done the way other people do them so I like to do them myself.
I bet you can relate to this.
Letting those I love take care of me has been character building. It has been teaching me Patience. Humility. Compassion. Understanding. And most of all Gratitude. Thank you, Universe, for these lessons.
3. Things still get done even when I’m not controlling them and pushing them all the time.
Would it surprise you to know that we have been clothed and fed and got to where we needed to get to, even without me at the helm of the ship? That my business has grown, even while I am binging on Netflix? This is pretty cool. I plan to try this ‘doing less and not controlling as much thing’ even when my ankle heals.
4. Do less, savor the moments.
Life has literally slowed down and so has given me more time to appreciate conversations with my loved ones. The taste of the food I eat. The sun reflecting off the water. The blue sky. How my body feels when I stretch and do limited yoga. Life feels more spacious and I realize how much I have to be grateful for.
5. The pleasure of slowing down.
Binging on Netflix has actually been fun. It also turns out that the less I do, the less I want to do. At first, this freaked me out. How would I be productive if I wasn’t doing, doing, doing? But as I have seen everything work out even with me doing less, I’m starting to think that I can be productive and sane. That’s pretty cool actually:
I share all this with you because perhaps you, like me and many other women, also have a hard time slowing down.
Do you have a hard time slowing down? What’s there for you to learn??
I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment below.
Happy Tuesday!
Natalie
