Today in the shower my contact got messed up. All of the sudden, it wasn’t in my eye properly and was hurting me. At first I tried to get it straightened out, then I just freaked out and tried to get it out of my eye. I yelled, then felt annoyed that Victor wasn’t running to see what was wrong–I could have fallen and hurt myself! Then felt silly for expecting him to hear me, and knowing he wouldn’t be able to help anyway. Then tried again to find the accursed thing. I was just thinking I’d need to get out of the shower, shampoo in my hair and all, to look in the mirror. Then I had a new idea. I stopped fighting with the contact, closed my eyes, and focused them around and then forward. The contact righted itself, and stopped torturing me. I washed the shampoo out of my hair, slapped some leave-in conditioner on it and got ready for my day without any further interruptions.
Now I will read some super deep life lessons into this seemingly small upset.
Sometimes You Need to Freak Out
I don’t know if the contact would have been fixed if I had immediately just relaxed my eye, maybe it would have. I’d like to justify my outburst by thinking it was a necessary part of the problem solving process. I guess we won’t ever know. What I do know is that sometimes our reactions to painful situations seem over the top and uncreative. Then we might feel silly, or ashamed, and it is even more difficult to intuit how we do want to handle the situation. And we might hurt others in the process. So when you’re having a freak out, make sure you really let it rip and find out what it has to tell you, without effecting other people. Read more about throwing a good tantrum here.
And don’t beat yourself up for your freak out/tantrum. It’s okay. Question is, what are you going to do now?
Let Go and Be Open
I’ve observed that sometimes I need to get desperate before I just let go and ask for help, either of a person or the universe in general. I think that my life might be easier if I did this earlier more often. In this case, the solution came when I stopped struggling and got calm. Suddenly, vision and comfort! Have you had experiences like that in your life? It can help to use breathing or meditation practices to bring you back to center. That doesn’t mean being vacant or just morphing into some kind of spiritual, de-personalitied blob. Be an open, receiving, you- all of you, present and ready to take your next step.
Give Thanks and Celebrate
When you’ve pulled through, be sure to be thankful to Life and/or a certain person who helped you. And take time to celebrate that you’ve had clarity and come through something difficult. Learn what you need to handle challenging situations more creatively next time.
So the next time you find yourself in discomfort or pain, remember to acknowledge your initial reaction, be open to new answers, and celebrate them coming. That’s my “from the shower” lesson on personal growth.
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