Are you one of those people who, when a big life change is on the horizon, welcome it with open arms of joy and loads of unending excitement? Yeah. Me either. Okay, okay... I shouldn't say I never get excited... But it isn't always smooth sailing. :)
Ok, so back to my original question about life changes. Whenever a big life change is happening in my life I battle "What if?" dialogue in my head. You are familiar with my ole pal what if, right?? My buddy What If loves to remind me of every catastrophic event that's ever happened on the planet and assure me that it is about to happen on the other side of my life change. Today I was having breakfast when my pal decided to show up. "What if....what if...what if...." All what ifs about our newest adventure that's coming up. It's exhausting when this happens. Am I right?? I woke up with every intention of just doing some reading, journaling and breakfast eating. Instead, I got caught up in a stormy what if session. Sometimes I don't even know that it's happening. It just gets going and going and next thing you know...I have created several devastating events and all before 7 am. Oye! Something happened this morning that caused me to put on the what if brakes. "What if I can't handle having a newborn?" This was my what if... and like a bolt of lightning I heard...."Oh but what if you can and will be even stronger?" I had never thought of there being a flip side to my buddy what if. So I sat there, as if in a court room, countering my what if's.
"What if all of my friends forget about me after the baby comes?" but..."What if your friendships grow stronger and they give you wisdom and love that help you through"
"What if they hire a substitute for the fall who I don't think is the right choice?" but... "What if they hire someone who you didn't think was a good fit and turns out to be amazing...and you even learn from them?"
"What if Josh and I fight because we are so sleep deprived?" but... "What if you learn to help each other through the sleep deprivation and grow even closer together?"
Do you see how there's always two sides to every what if question? Life changes are exciting, scary, exhilarating, terrifying and everything wrapped up into one. Even though they include all of these emotions...we can still find hope on the flip side of what if.
Everything won't be perfect and there will be learning with every life change, but don't let the what if party in your head hold you back from something that could be absolutely amazing.
What if....but what if?
