RECALCULATING

This is being repeated by special request...just for you dear friend.

As each day was lived as a young woman and then a wife, I grew in confidence in who I was and how I lived.  I was sure-footed, capable, and if doubt ever came to me it didn’t stay long because I had a cheerleader in the friend and love that I was married to.

One of the difficult adjustments to my new life as a single, is making decisions with the same confidence I remember from my past.  A fear fills me like I don’t recall before in my life.  I find myself thinking, “What if this is the wrong way to go?”  “What if I make a mistake?”

Then I thought about my GPS system.  Often, I’ll put in a destination on my GPS and then decide to take a detour without adding it to my trip.  As I head off to the detour point, my GPS recalculates the directions to my end point by announcing, “Recalculating.”

That is when it hit me.  Why can’t we deal with life like our GPS deals with our wrong turns.  No finger pointing.  No scolding.  No anger.  No fear.  Just recalculating.

So what if I decide to change course, and it turns out wrong?  I’ll just recalculate a new direction from where I stand.  If my choices turn out to be a mistake, I’ll just pick new choices.  If I decide to try something new and don’t like it, I’ll stop.  If I decide to go somewhere and I don’t enjoy it, I’ll turn around and pick some place else or return home.  Why does it have to be any more complicated than that? No experience is ever worthless, just the opposite.  All experiences have value in lessons of living.

So the next time I am faced with a choice, and it turns out wrong, I'll listen for that gentle voice in my head that will reset my compass with the words, recalculating.