I posted, for the New Year, a blog about my resolution to live more of a dot to dot life. How am I doing? Let’s put it this way: I was raised Southern Baptist and I can backslide with the best of them.
I told a friend back around Thanksgiving that I felt I was in a “be still and know” place. And I was. For about two seconds.
I’m trying. And then the siren song of the big picture takes over and I just want to jump right into it. Wiggle my nose and be there. Get back to the future, where it looks fun and exciting. To say it in plain English, I haven’t done very well at all.
And then came the snow/sleet/ice storm. A time to slow down, because that’s how we do it here. A time to breathe it in and enjoy the moment. Also during the storm, I hurt my back.
It was while pulling kittens from a storm drain while the sleet pelted my face, making the way too, too treacherous and slippery for just one woman. Was the story one friend said I should tell. Sledding down a steep and long hill at a breakneck speed like I was twelve again, before being thrown and rolled onto an icy hard surface and coming to a painful stop. Was the story I wanted it to be. Awkwardly leaning over a chair and a cat to look out the window when it was really coming down and straightening back up quickly with a weird twist. Is what actually happened.
Dot one. Slow down. Dot two. Breathe. Dot three. Don’t take out your frustration out on the people and animals who are forced to live with you. Back to dot two. Dot four. Don’t complain and whine to anyone who will listen. Crap. Back to dot three. Sorry about that.
So, that’s how my dot to dot life is going currently. It’s being FORCED on me. I should know better. I believe whether you pray for something, throw it to the universe, have friends and loved ones who will hold you accountable to the things you say and they can tell you mean it—whatever—it’s OUT now, and off you go. Even when you go slowly, stiffly and gingerly.
Resolutions can be everything you ever dreamed of and more. Or less. I hope yours are going well, or if they were only worth thinking and not doing, that you’ve tossed them out with other clutter and moved on.
I’m still determined. This set back (so to speak) is not really that. It’s just a set of dots to connect. And the realization that you can’t miss any of the numbered connections. That there’s an order to seeing the big picture.
Dot five. Take another Aleve.