And Counting Was Easy

In the blink of an eye it can all change, just one step out that door and the world can turn to black, just one step. Leave a lit room, step over the threshold of the door into the night and all you will see is pure black darkness.

Once you step over that threshold into the darkness you get three choices

You gallantly step forward braving the darkness not knowing in which direction you are going, what obstacles stand before you or whether anything can bash you in the head

You step vigilantly into the dark putting one foot in front of the other with your hands out feeling your way forward in order to make sure you aren’t going to connect with any obstacles.

You cross over the threshold, stand still, take a deep breath and allow the darkness to envelope you. As you stand on the spot, your eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, slowly you are able to see everything around you clearly, all obstacles, paths and possible directions.

Are any of these three choices the right one or is it reliant on our individual personalities?

At different stages in my own life I have used each of these three choices.

Option 1:

At times option one worked best for me, I had little time to sit and think about my options, I didn’t have time to come up with a strategy plan or wait for the darkness to clear. I was thrown in the deep end and tried to swim the best I could. Along the way I bumped into many an obstacle, I bashed my head more times I can say but ultimately it was the best way forward for me at that time in my life. I was on the go constantly, there was no time to rest. Survival.

Option 2:

When I finished school I decided to study my second love, computers, got a great job at a hi-tech company where I was the only woman working amongst males in a technology field. I walked through that door and put my hands out, it was a whole new universe for me and I didn’t have time to stand back and wait for my eyes to adjust. I had to feel as I went and hope that I would feel the obstacles before they hit me. At first I progressed slowly and as my eyes adjusted I sped up, I moved forwards and the light came.

Option 3:

This year has been one that has truly rocked my world, turned it upside down and then back again. It has been constant change and then not enough change, spiritual growth, lost friendships and incredible new ones, heartache, heart wonders and turmoil both in outer life and inner being. I walked into this year and stood still, I could do no other. I stood, took a deep breath and allowed the darkness to envelope me in its arms. As time passed things started to become more clear, I saw the different paths lying before me, the dream plants of new and old, obstacles and things to avoid, what to jump over and what to move. I saw my path.

Was the option I chose for each circumstance wrong or was it the right one for me at that particular time in my life?

Perhaps there is never a right way to do things.

I can turn around to you right this minute and say STOP THAT BUS RIGHT THERE but will I be right if I hadn’t taken the time to know you, to understand your process or what you are going through? What would give me the right to judge your process and tell you that you are on the right track if I hadn’t taken the time?

We each own our own process for which you have the choice to share with another to gain advice or just an ear. That process is yours and you decide whether the advice given fits with you or whether it is wrong. That decision is always yours, no one else’s. The advice might be right, it may be wrong, no one ever knows for sure, all it is in reality is a flashlight in the dark to help you on your way.

Those three options are eternal and interchangeable. If you think you are charging off into the night and should rather stop in your tracks and stand still for a moment to adjust to the new light then stop in your tracks. Stand for a moment and take a deep breath, breathe, wait, breathe, till you you can see more clearly.