Relief! That's what I felt Sunday, April 14, as I walked across the stage at University Auditorium at the University of Florida in Gainesville to receive my Master of Business Administration degree (MBA). People kept saying, "Are you excited??" And of course, I was excited - but what I felt down to my very bones was relief :-)
The funky, not-very-pretty picture in this post is a calendar I made for myself last September when I really started doubting whether or not I could actually complete the program. I needed a way to "see the light at the end of the tunnel" before I could actually see that light. Every Monday morning, I took great pleasure in crossing off another week - you'll notice the lines of my "exes" were getting thicker as the weeks wore on...and on and on and on!
But it's over. And it made me think about how many things can drain our energy, our attention, even our fun and how relieved we are when we get "through" those things. Sometimes it's a financial hardship. Sometimes it's a health crisis...or a job situation...or a relationship problem...or a HUGE project that seems it will never end.
Whatever the tunnel is that you're going through, allow yourself to really feel the relief when you finally get to the other side. So many times we just jump right into another tunnel, but have you ever seen one of those tunnels through the mountains? Even when it's a pretty wide mountain, the engineers usually found a way to provide "light" between tunnels - a space where you could sort of get your bearings again before entering another tunnel.
That's what we all need to make sure we do between "tunnels" in our lives - take some time to get our bearings - to reflect on how we grew because of our trip through that tunnel. And take a deep breath before we immediately jump into another.
I know that "life" happens and we can't always control the speed at which we arrive at the next tunnel. Maybe we don't get that short break where we can see the light. Maybe those are the times we have to make our own "light" and focus on the good. That may be a flower, a sunny sky, a furry friend nearby, or even the dime you found in the parking lot!
Focusing on the small "shafts of light" that come our way can also remind us to really feel the relief when the tunnel finally comes to an end.
Drop me a note and let me know what your tunnel is right now...are you approaching the end? Can you see some rays of light filtering through?
Blessings,
Linda
