I Should Have Stretched Before I Decided to Power Wash...

So...it's been quite some time since I've written and posted a completely new blog that wasn't already started prior. This is not one of them. I'll admit, I did start this one about a three months ago, but it was still being written in my mind. Just cuz I put it down on paper doesn't mean that is when it was created. Many of these ideas are birthed within me and sometimes they take days, months, and years to write and complete.

Anyway...back to the point.. It was funny how I found myself in this little predicament to find time to write...especially in my favorite and most hectic time of the year...summer. At the start of this blog I was laid up in bed due to pulling a muscle in my lower back. As the title suggests...I should have stretched. The title in fact is slightly misleading because the actual deed happened while I was bending over shaving my legs in the shower. But I'm pretty sure the root of the cause was being bent over power washing for 5 hours earlier that day. As I lovingly told the story to my 13 year old child I nanny...she of course laughing uncontrollably...I couldn't help but think this is how this whole old thing starts. One day I pull a muscle in the shower, the next day "I've fallen and I can't get up!" and I'm looking for my Life Alert.

All this got me thinking about life and how things relate to each other.  What I came up with is, just because something hurts doesn't mean you made the wrong decision. It wasn't the wrong decision for me to power wash, and it certainly wasn't the wrong idea for me to shave my legs later in the day. (Thank you says all the people who's eyes grace my non hairy legs while we are still in shorts weather). Moving right along. Equally, just because something feels good, doesn't mean it's the right decision.   Above all feelings, doing the morally right thing is always...the right thing. But what happens in those grey areas...are there any grey areas? How do we know what to do? 

Let's say you swear not to tell a secret. Someone asks you to spill the beans. You now have a dilemma. It's obviously wrong to lie, and obviously wrong to break a promise. Either way someone gets hurt and trust is broken.  You might gain more respect from the asker if you give out secret information. However, if/when the truth comes out (which it usually does), you can take that hurt and multiply it by 100 when the person with the secret finds out that you couldn't keep it a secret. Why this scenario (not this exact one, but ones where we find ourselves stuck inbetween a rock and hard place in a moral dilemma) comes up so often in life is because it is a perceived grey area. Key word here is "perceived". I find things start looking grey when people are involved, and you are being pulled in a different direction by each. So many people cave when they come face to face with letting someone down. For example, you have two bowls of candy. One holds the last Reeses, the other holds the last Twix. No one is present. You choose which one you like best. No moral qualms whatsoever. Now in that same situation, introduce a bratty little kid who's favorite candy is Twix. It also just so happens that your favorite candy is Twix as well and you despise Reeses. You have just come across a grey area. Do you give the kid his first pick and suffer? Does the kid deserve to be rewarded even though he's being bratty? Bam!  Grey area. Only difference is a person. The answer to this scenario is always treat others how you would want to be treated...even little bratty kids. After all they are learning their behaviors from you. Maybe your bratty little kid is the unruly neighbors next door, or that co worker that knows just the right thing to do to annoy the crap out of you, or your tyrant boss, or even your mortal enemy.  Whatever the case, whoever the player, we should treat others as we would want to be treated regardless. Put yourself in their place and then choose your actions accordingly.  I find if a little time or thought was put into breaking down a situation to it's simplest form, one would figure out that there is no grey area at all.  For example, in the original explained scenario, you can still morally do what's right by keeping the secret and simply saying you can not say a word. Now instead of breaking anyone's trust, you have doubly gained the trust/respect of both people. People know you won't lie or break a promise. You did what was right. It's not always about pleasing someone or making someone feel all fuzzy inside. It's about doing what is right regardless of the cost. 

The beauty of doing your best and the right thing is most often your character and intentions will shine through even when you mess up and possibly don't handle or say things in the proper way.  Keep in mind we are all capable of anything, good and bad.  We all are born into this world with the same freedom...choice.  The only difference between those that do good or bad is choice and what we will and won't allow ourselves to do.  How many times do we get caught up in this scenario and we look at a person and say in our heads, "How could he/she do that?  I would never..." Don't be fooled.  You don't know what it was like to walk in their shoes.  Everyone has a price, and we all have our demons. So don't judge or put your hope in people to be perfect.  No one is.  We all will surely mess up and do things at some point we swore we would never do.  So don't sweat the mess up.  Learn to forgive (sometimes this also means yourself and not just others) and keep it moving. 

Speaking of moving...life goes by so fast. Each season with twists and turns, none of which I could have guessed in a million years. One thing I have learned though is to make the best of the season you are in. Love it and embrace it because you are never getting it back. And for goodness sake take time to stretch yourself before and after those seasons so you are prepared for whatever things big or little, good or bad, that are coming your way.  Learn from your past, prepare for your future, but always remember to live in the moment.