So I had an appointment last week. It was one of those appointments that had been on the schedule for weeks. It was the kind that cannot be interrupted under any circumstances barring a zombie apocalypse or something equally dire. But I have three children and am working from home and they don’t really care about important business appointments especially if a new episode of Spongebob is on or their sippy cups need a refill.
Long story short, my regular childcare help was unavailable. My back up was unavailable which means that I did nothing short of move mountains to arrange for my children to be out of the house at the time of this business call. You’ve probably guessed by now what happened. My husband left work to come home for the children. Ten minutes before the scheduled appointment time, the other party canceled.
But something miraculous happened. Or rather did NOT happen. I felt nothing. I rescheduled, called my husband and told him to bring the kids back and moved on with the day. A year ago, I would have been FUMING. I would have been cursing the other person for their lack of consideration. I would have been agonizing over the fact that my husband had to completely rearrange his schedule and for nothing. I would have been resentful of the inconvenience. My heart would have beaten faster, my blood pressure would have raised and more than likely the whole day would have been shot. But now, I felt none of that.
I can’t tell you what an amazing feeling it is to stay in peace. Who knows why the other person canceled? Maybe she had an emergency. Maybe she forgot and double-booked (honest mistake). Or maybe she simply didn’t feel 100% on her A-game and preferred to reschedule at a time when she felt more productive. The reason is irrelevant because odds are I will never know the TRUE reason. And I don’t have to. And neither do you! Living in love means that you operate from a place of faith. You give others the benefit of the doubt. You trust that they are doing the best they can at any given moment and you forgive them when they falter, whether you’ve met them in person or not. Detach. Let go of your need for everything to go as planned. Don’t take things personally because usually it isn’t at all about YOU. Trust that the hiccup actually served you for the better even if you can’t quite see clearly HOW. Think of how many times you have let an unforeseen circumstance throw you into a ball of anxiety. Did it help? Would getting stressed have caused the other person to keep our scheduled appointment? No. Stressing and reacting to things that are beyond our control is a waste of time and energy and serves no purpose whatsoever. Trust, let go and stay in peace. Me? I decided to be grateful for the unexpected break. And I curled up the kiddos. Spongebob isn’t so bad. 😉