Out Of The Blue

out of the blue

We are creatures of comfort.

It is the familiar to which we cuddle up to, tight ‎within its cloak of warmth, solace is found. Such is the security that our daily ‎activities provide. So cozy and intimate are we with our rituals and routines ‎that we are often reluctant to leave our shells and venture outside of ‎ourselves. As life's path would have it, unforeseen obstacles and potholes await ‎us along our way.‎

‎‎‎Snails and supermen, not a world of difference between the two, merely paint ‎the cloak of comfort red and with a flapping motion breathe deeply and open ‎your arms wide while holding it tightly.‎ ‎

Without a doubt, an integral and significant part of our psyche is built upon ‎how we choose to meet the cold, challenging and untimely knots in our paths: ‎the not wanteds, the not convenients, the not suitables and, ultimately, the ‎‎‎‎NOT nows!‎‎ ‎

Childhood memories remind me of forgotten days. I recall my cloak of ‎protection which followed me around: pretty much like a shadow, it was ‎always there to protect me. Bad things always happened to others far from my ‎reach. Adversity struck at a distance. Everything bad, happened in other ‎families: all of the arguments, divorce, unemployment, fires, nasty court cases, ‎car accidents, disease, and tragic deaths were all an arm’s length away. Bit by ‎bit, however, my shield weakened and misfortune was drawn closer and closer ‎to me. At first the bad stuff was just a distant story on television or in the news. ‎Later as I grew older, however, it was as if someone had pulled the rug out ‎from beneath me. Similar events befell my family within its most inner circle, ‎striking deep: stifling, razor sharp and winded pain.‎

Please don’t get me wrong: I did not have a difficult childhood, quite the ‎opposite. As a young and innocent child, I saw both my family and the world ‎around me as pure perfection. Gradually the imperfections and the injustices ‎unraveled before me, their tangled webs grasping and chocking me cold with ‎fear. ‎

There is a man that I would once do anything, absolutely anything, just to ‎make sure that our paths would not cross, even at the cost of conceded ‎negotiations at the gate. Just last week I had no choice but to meet him. ‎Surprised was I to notice for a moment how painless it was: I could talk, laugh ‎and enjoy my powerful presence.

I have changed. My journey has endowed ‎me with new powers, while his have remained the same.‎

Challenges, trauma, grief and difficulties are not new to me. At times I’ve ‎attacked like a lioness, at others gone deep into hiding like a mouse. What I ‎have realized is that my struggles with life’s forces have shaped and ‎strengthened me and for that I am grateful.‎

Times of crisis: times of growth.

Crisis is but a bump in our path. How we ‎choose to meet it, now that is entirely in our hands. Breathe deeply, close your ‎eyes and imagine the most creative and accurate call to action. There is an ‎abundance of possibilities, close to infinity in number. It is quite possible that ‎the obstacle is a blessing in disguise?

‎‎‎Superman? Superpower? Hey that would be ‎ ‎‎‎‎YOU!‎