I’m not religious, but I do sometimes wonder if the someone or something that is in charge of it all (because there has to be someone in charge somewhere, right?) is trying to teach me lessons occasionally.
I’m proud of the fact that I don’t ever suggest clients do something I wouldn’t, or teach tools and techniques that I have tested over and over. But every so often we all need a gentle reminder, don’t we?
Recently I’ve had a few clients who never stop. They feel they can’t stop because wheels will fall off at home or at work if they even slow down just a little. It’s so easy to see from the outside that actually, the wheels that will fall off first are their own and that will cause chaos of enormous proportions. But seeing it from the outside is always easy isn’t it?
And as I have pondered this with those lovely people about the importance of slowing down, of looking after themselves, that one in charge has clearly looked over at me and thought ‘Lordy, you need to learn a lesson here.’
And I am a stubborn idiot sometimes, so it took a while.
The short version is:
> I have asthma but in my head it’s just mild and no big deal.
> But a month or so ago it started playing up.
> The asthma nurse told me to take it easy and see the doctor.
> I didn’t have time for that.
> I eventually saw the doctor.
> The tablets the doctor gave me didn’t work.
> I saw the doctor again. The doctor told me to go straight to hospital.
> I didn’t have time for that, so just took some more tablets.
> I saw the doctor again.
> The doctor said I had to go to the hospital.
Now, I felt really rubbish at this point – as though an elephant had been sitting on my chest for a few days. But I still didn’t have time for that. In fact, do you know what I said? I said I’d go, but I needed to wait until the evening as I had clients that I couldn’t let down. The doctor said that was fine but (crafty lady), there was a chance I would stop breathing before I got to hospital if I did that.
Gulp.
So, I sent a mail to the clients scheduled in for the rest of the day apologising that I had to cancel. They are the only clients I’ve ever cancelled, and it felt terrible.
But they didn’t mind – of course they didn’t.
They managed without me – of course they did.
And I went to A&E and got treated and started being able to breathe properly again.
It all worked out absolutely fine.
Because – and yes, it seems I did learn a lesson here – nobody holds the whole world on their shoulders. You can slow down, or even stop without wheels flying off everywhere. As long as you keep your own wheels in tip top condition. You might even go back as a better version of yourself once those wheels have had some TLC.
I do think sometimes we are sent the lesson we need to learn. Or maybe it’s just a useful way of finding the positive in a tricky situation.
Whichever way you want to look at it, I wonder…what lesson are you being sent right now? And what will you learn from yours?
H.x
