Lately, I’ve been a bit impatient. I have a couple goals I want to achieve immediately, if not sooner. I spend my days hitting refresh on my email desperately hoping to find a message of progress. I recognize that it isn’t only pots that don’t boil, but it’s hard to look away. I do, however, have a way to console myself: the “around the corner” philosophy.
We never know what’s just around the corner… Life is funny like that. An answer often appears just when one is about to give up. How many people have gone out on a million bad dates, only to meet their partner where they least expected it? How many people were at the end of their employment rope only get a job offer out of the blue? How often has an untenable situation been solved at the last minute?
Opportunity calling
In my experience, it’s happened with some regularity. I was unemployed and had given up my apartment with no where else to go when a friend called me up and asked me to come interview. It turned out that a position had opened up because the current occupant was moving with his wife to Ohio for about a year. And when that year was coming to an end and the person was returning (leading to some discomfort about how the roles would change), I got a call from a college friend asking me to interview for her. Suddenly, I was moving to New York City, where anything can (and does) happen.
And that job changed more than my zip code. I had come to accept the idea that I might be on my own for the rest of my life – and was quite comfortable with it – when I heard the laugh that rang ’round New York. It was in the middle of a conference about bird flu and the laugh’s owner kept talking about toilet sanitizing, but I could feel the prickles of excitement telling me my world was changing. Ironically, the guy obsessed with restroom cleanliness first described himself to me as a “cleanish rugby bloke”… cleanish because of the mud that was caked on in the locker rooms where they changed after a game.
Just when we were starting to think we’d like to give the relationship a go, but had to contend with a slight issue – the ocean between us – a job opened up for the rugby bloke in New York. And after a year, when we had decided we’d like to move back to England? You guessed it, a job opened up with a company in London willing to pay for our relocation.
Surprise, Surprise
I’ve often heard people despair about meeting the right person. They fear they are too old, or don’t work where they can meet anyone, etc. But I strongly contend that it can happen anywhere, anytime, for anyone. You might spend a year going out on internet dates, but meet the person you’re meant to marry on a subway. I certainly wouldn’t have expected to find my future spouse at a bird flu conference. One of my favorite love stories is my dear friend’s, who met her husband while dressed as an oversized Snow White at a rugby match in Hong Kong – talk about not prepared for the moment! (To read about this romantic adventure, visit Patricia Sexton’s blog: Land of the Blue Sky)
Whether you’re going through a divorce, or waiting to hear from an employer, or trying to fulfill your personal legend, there will be days when you feel like there’s only an indefinite dark tunnel. And those days are tough to get through. But then, one day, there’s an unexpected bend and suddenly… boom… daylight.
I am reminding myself of this today as I close my email and go about my life… Eventually, the water will boil and the email will come.
Temple of Inspiration 