Life's Hurdles

Do you ever feel that your life sport is hurdles?  You get over one hurdle, and then there is another, and then there is another and eventually you get to the finish line. By that time you are totally exhausted, and you know that at any point in your life you will have to overcome your life hurdles again. Since I am not an athlete of any size, shape or form, the "Sport of Life" will be the closest I will ever get to any sport, especially hurdles.   

I have some very small personal hurdles, and some not so small. I am choosing to write about the small ones. It seems that as a person ages, nothing is as easy as it was before. For some reason so many things require doing at least twice. For example, I live in the opposite end of the city as Walmart, Winners and Home Depot. It never fails if I buy something from those stores, I will have the wrong size, something is missing from the box, or it is simply not right. So back I go, doing it all over again. I personally find the Corral Centre exhausting to begin with and I try to do everything while I am there, a revisit is not what I want, but there I am. 

The simple act of making an appointment is now an ordeal. I struggle with numbers on a daily basis, so once I have the date and time and hopefully write it on the calendar on the right date and time, the second guessing begins. So, a follow up call is necessary, you know doing it twice. 

I loathe grocery shopping, actually shopping in general is fast becoming one of my least favorite things to do. I only go to get food when I have absolutely nothing to eat. I make an extensive list and even organize the items into sections, in the order of the store layout. I believe this is a quick and efficient way of grocery shopping. The whole process usually starts with getting into the vehicle, then going back into the house to get the keys that are hung up not in my purse. Getting into the store and realizing I have left the grocery bags in the car or at home. Hence, I have accumulated dozens of recycle bags. Once the shop is over and I am home and unpacking I realize, how on earth did that one item get missed. The very item I needed and was the reason I went to the store in the first place. A new grocery list is started, and the produce isn't even in the fridge yet. Some people cross off the items on their list as they put it in the cart. I have tried that, but I still manage to miss that one item. I have made such a mess of my list by crossing things off it has gotten lost. As I am checking out, I have all the confidence in the world I have everything and yet I am wrong about that. 

Something I have found that is helpful to me is that I have always been very good at flipping to Plan B. When I am faced with a decision I never think, "ok this is Plan A and if that doesn't work, I will go to Plan B". That is not how I roll, I believe Plan A will work, and if it is supposed to work out, it will. If for some reason Plan A doesn't work, I go to Plan B. I always have a Plan B floating around in my head. It is not as detailed as Plan A, but it is there, ready to go. Rarely do I say, "what am I going to do now?". 

Hurdle running is different for everyone. I know each of you has had a conversation with someone who is visibly upset about something. I have come away from those conversations thinking, "is that a problem?" or "oh my goodness, that's horrible". People judge problems differently, some have never had what I call "big problems" in their lives. Little problems are big to them. I have come to the realization that this is life and how it unfolds for everyone is different. I describe life as a roller coaster of challenges that must be dealt with. We all get a chance to ride the roller coaster from time to time, whether we want to or not. When it is my turn for the ride, I grab onto my focus, I don't allow myself to think, I can't do this, of course, I can. I often see myself reaching out to someone that truly knows how to fix my issue and I will follow their direction, but I am doing it. 

I can organize a social event in half an hour, right down to what serviettes will be used. When I am faced with things like getting the hail damage repaired on my vehicle, I doddle around not making it happen. To be quite honest, I despise the very thought of doing it. I believe it is the inconvenience that is the problem. I know one day I will wake up, make an appointment, ask for a courtesy car and just do it. I'm not sure when that day will be, but currently it is Plan A. Follow-through for me requires a commitment and right now, I haven't committed. I am sure everyone is thinking, here we go again like the kitchen renos, all talk, and no action and you are right. There is always things in life that need to be dealt with. I am finding as I age, it is not can I or can't I do it, it is do I want to? I only want to complete the things I want to, the rest will happen when I am fed up with myself for not taking care of them. 

Dealing with life's hurdles and challenges has molded me into who I am. I learned a long time ago that life is not fair. Some people have way more issues to face than others and I feel I may be one of those people. I do have rose-colored glasses, and I do drink from a cup half full, and I have learned to embrace obstacles as a challenge. Often there is no choice, I know I have to sort it out and I do. I take a deep breath, have an Aunt Joan talk with myself, put my head down and get it done. For me getting overwhelmed serves no purpose. Just remember when you are running life's hurdles, just breathe and remind yourself "I got this".