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Hello, my dear friend! How are things in your neck of the woods this fine Monday morning?
We had a wonderful weekend on this end! DW and I took the Mystic Maunderer (our travel trailer) out into the great outdoors, but there was also an online conference I attended during that time. So, we had an opportunity to “act as if” and really experience firsthand what life will feel like once we go on the road full-time.
Today, as I continue to make my way through the alphabet, I am tackling the letter “s” for Surrendering to Joy. This topic is actually in perfect alignment with a story I related to my IP Inner Circle mates this weekend.
I was an 18-year-old kid in love with the idea of being in love. In my early teen years, I really enjoyed reading teen romances. Falling in love, especially when you least expected it, just seemed so magical to me. I wanted to experience that. I wanted to “just click” with another human being.
Oh, for certain! I had my friends. Not a lot of them, but I had some. Even with them, I didn’t feel as though I could fully be “me.” Vulnerability, being seen for who I really was didn’t come easily or naturally for me, though. It just didn’t feel safe. I wanted some one I could feel safe with.
By the end of January 1989, I felt as though I had been searching FOR.EVER because I was still quite young, and patience was not among my virtues. (I’ve gotten “better” over the years, but admittedly, it still isn’t.)
So, there I was, looking for love, but - up to that point - it had been in all the wrong places. In my heart of hearts, though, I still believed that my guy was “somewhere out there.” I looked for him in the face of every guy I met, but by this point, I was so disappointed. My heart hurt from all the breaks it had endured.
I was done!
Maybe he wasn’t out there after all. So, I finally decided I was just going to have fun and would stop expecting anything to happen. I surrendered. I wasn’t going to actively look for “him” anymore.
The day I decided this… The very day, I received a call from one of my girlfriends. She said, “It’s one of my friends’ birthdays. A bunch of us are going bowling to celebrate. You want to go with?”
I didn’t have any plans. Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to “people.” My energy was low but that still small voice told me this was something I needed to do. In the end, I followed my intuition.
That night, there I was, in completely new territory. Aside from my friend, I was mixing and mingling with a totally different group of people. I didn’t feel comfortable. It was a situation that did not feel aligned with my search for safety.
As the night went on though, I found I was really beginning to connect with the birthday boy. As we interacted more, we discovered our senses of humor were quite similar.
I also realized while talking with my friend later on, the birthday boy and I had come very close to meeting one another about a month prior.
She and I had spotted him and his friend while our vehicles had sat side by side at a stoplight. There’d definitely been interest there! We’d flirted as long as the light would allow, but the timing just hadn’t been right.
The night of his birthday, though, we really hit it off!
And over the months we’d spent together afterward, it became more than clear to the both of us that we’d been searching for one another, and 35 years later… We’re still together.
Has it all been perfect? A fairytale story? Heck, no! We were kids when we met, and we’ve faced a lot of growth and challenges together in the past few decades. His military service. Raising three kids together. But now, we’re learning how to DREAM together. The sky’s the limit for us!
The lesson I learned? The challenges we often experience in our lives are of our own making, and those I experienced were because I had been trying to steer the bus in the direction I thought it “should” go.
Finally, my frustration had been so great that I finally gave up. I surrendered. I got out of the way, which allowed things to fall more easily into place for me.
At that stoplight, the Universe had tried to show me what was possible if I just stopped trying to force the situation. Once I did, It gifted me with a lifetime of love, connection, safety, and expansion. It gifted me with a Soul Friend to share this miraculous journey with.
So, my friend, has there been a time in your life when you felt as though things “just clicked” after an extended period of frustration? What shift in your perspective did you experience to seemingly bring it about? I would love for you to share your experience in the comments below!
Until next time, take care, and may you be well!
Sending you so much light, love, and Squishy hugs,
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