Monday, October 4, 2010

In An Instant

A moment in time, and your world can change.  Have you seen the Sprint commercial where because something has downloaded so quickly on her phone a woman is able to bend down faster, and therefore bumps into someone and she ends up a prima ballerina, while the same person with a slower phone ends up a ballet teacher of small children?  A moment, and your world can change.

We've all felt it.  Sometimes it is like we are watching it unfold in slow motion.  A month ago I didn't use the "holder dilly" on the mandolin, and used my hand to hold the potato, and well, sliced a chunk out of my finger.  I watched that unfold in slow motion, but couldn't stop it from occurring because the path was already set in motion.  Sometimes your life changes, and you didn't even see it coming.  You simply picked up the phone and boom!  Life is no longer as it was before.

We can't go back.  We don't have a remote control to push the rewind button.  While cutting that potato, I couldn't push pause when my consciousness realized what was about to occur.  So we have to live with the consequences of that moment.  Me?  I had to get a bandaid.  Sometimes though the consequences are greater than a simple bandaid can alleviate.  It is in those moments when growth happens.

When you find yourself in that situation, your life has drastically changed, you may feel lost.  You may even be angry.  How could one moment change so much?  How could one seemingly small decision change my life so drastically?  There is grief.  You have lost the life you thought you were leading.  There is sorrow.

After the grief, the shock, and the pain is over, you find you still have life.  How do we live after the change?  Do we learn something and become better people?  Do we adapt and in adapting become more?  Or do we let it become a crutch?  Do we then just make bad decisions because life has already changed so why the hell not?

One moment, and your life can change.  So what are you gonna do?