Flattened
September 5, 2009
Life hurts sometimes. People die, relationships fail and life lets you down. You think you’re going in one direction and then suddenly the wind blows and you’re going in another.
This week I had an experience that really flattened me. I felt like my buoyant balloon just fell to the ground. Not to worry though, I have been through this many times before and have rebounded. Life is not just about growth but it is also about death, renewal, despair and hope. We need to embrace the whole gamut.
This is not the straw that will break the camel’s back. Although sometimes painful experiences can feel like that, this will not break me. I must learn to bend like the weeping willow tree but not crack.
Here’s one thing that I’ve learned – that you can’t avoid pain. When you need to experience it, it’s going to seek you out like a heat-seeking missile. But also remember that it’s not just meant to be pain. Life is causing us to grow and sometimes that feels really challenging.
The little hermit crab does not want to get out of his comfy shell and scuttle across the hot sand to find a new one. He’s comfortable where he is. But life says grow and so out of the shell he must go.
Life hurts sometimes. People die, relationships fail and life lets us down. But do not give up. Growth is right around the corner. New life is the next phase of the process. Nature herself is always dying and being reborn.
So you might wonder what I’m doing with this situation? Well for one I’m taking solace from the loving people in my life. One 
of the best things about difficulties, is that they really help you realize how much you have and how loved you are.
I encourage you to take a look around today and see who really loves you and who is there for you no matter what. Don’t wait for life’s challenges to hit. Look now. See who loves you and love them back. In these times I try to remind myself to focus more on others than on myself. Take solace but reach out and give as well.
The other way I’m moving with life is to continue to write and share stories. I’ve decided that it’s time to really push myself to bring more of my stories out to the world – not just the pretty plumped up ones, but also the ones that are raw and real. These are the stories that matter the most, the ones that come from real life.
Life will grow and renew itself again, it’s inevitable. We must stay hopeful and positive about that. Not just as a pep talk or trying to ignore what is happening, but if in the midst of difficulties we can continue to believe in life and it’s powers of renewal then that can carry us forward.
There is nothing lost here. Just an old shell of the hermit crab that needed to crack off and drift out to sea. He may be temporarily without his shell and feel a bit lost and vulnerable, but right now even as we tell this story, his new shell is out there looking for him. It’s just waiting for him to pull his head up out of the sand and lumber forward towards it. When he does, the new shell that has been there all the time will welcome him home.
Life grows. Life goes on. Life renews itself. It’s inevitable. You can bank on that. In fact you should.
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