Sometimes when you think the chips are down…

Photo of pond and scenery between Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath
Marked on Google Maps as… ‘Unknown Pond’ between Lochgelly and Cowdenbeath

Ever had days/weeks when absolutely everything you think you are getting on top of suddenly turns belly-up? You can start to feel panic and a creeping sense of how on earth can I change all this? When are things ever going to improve?

After your initial shock and disappointment, rational thought can start to transcend and a re look at all in front of you allows some alternative options to appear. The options you wanted to choose in the first place might have needed co-operation for them to work. If life’s route changes and these options have then to be disregarded, there is always something else, another way – it’s not always one step forward, two steps back. You can’t be one step forward if it wasn’t an absolute.  And often the dancing happens because we cannot predict what lies ahead or how others will interact, or indeed how we will react, as much as we can try to plan.

Remember, you can’t really undo all the good you did, history doesn’t change, although it can easily be forgotten.  Especially when it comes to our own self-esteem. You are still moving forward, even if right now, you feel you’re not in your own eyes.

So, bearing this in mind, instead of lacking faith in you, take a sideways step, you might even need to sit on a bench for a wee while.  When feeling calmer, check the traffic – when you feel safe to cross or proceed, give yourself a break, breathe deep, move the goal posts, break up the task/fear and then, you may see the options you didn’t know were there because you were busily focused on the one direction.

Most of all, don’t punish yourself if things aren’t running smoothly, open your mind and thoughts to how you can sometimes take a scenic route and still get where you want to be at the end of the day, even if it takes a little longer. And likewise, when you reflect on scenic routes, remember that hidden cafe/view that suddenly appeared as you rounded the corner? Life is just like that. And you will find your hidden moments in these diversions you never intended to take but for a tree in the road, you needed to.