Got Your Underwear In A Bundle?

Written by Terri Crosby for In Care of Relationships

Are your panties in a wad about something?

Knickers in a twist?

Uncomfortable?  Things not going too well today?  Something threw you off the happy merry-go-round?

Ahhhh, yes — happens to all of us.

Yep, there are good days, and there are days we’d rather forget about.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I had an experience recently that taught me really good things by “throwing myself over the cliff” if you know what I mean.   Here’s the thing.  My suffering was self-induced.  It was unnecessary.  The thing that triggered it was unimportant.   The situation “snuck up” on me.  By the time I realized how bent out of shape I was, it was too late.

The lesson began by watching a live-stream-webinar-thingy, and it went on for a while.  i tried to do other things (multi-task) and just have it running in the background until something I really wanted to hear came on.

But I’m just curious enough about how other people conduct their business that I kept watching.  The interesting thing is that the longer I watched, the more uncomfortable I became.

Except I didn’t really notice.

Not really.

I ignored my feelings, because there was a particular person I wanted to see — a guest on the show.  It took a couple hours for me to fall down and go boom.  I couldn’t believe it took so long.

So why not just stop watching?  Yep.  That would have been the logical solution.  Just stop already.

But I didn’t do that, because there was that big carrot hanging out there that I was trying to get.

It took waaaaaaaaaaay too long, and the longer it went on, the worse I felt.

It’s like taking a bite of something and thinking, “Well, that doesn’t taste so great.”  So I take another bite, hoping it will get better somehow!  The first bite is disbelief.  “It just can’t be that bad.”  Or it’s curiosity —  “What’s wrong with that? — Really!  Why does that taste icky?”   And then I try to figure it out.

Or I take that bite of salad, it’s not thrilling, but I figure (hope?) the main meal will be better.  Silly me.  If a restaurant can’t make a good first course or appetizer, well, then… you get the idea.  It’s called a clue.

The good news?  There was at least one benefit of all of this.  The long-drawn-out-live-stream-webinar-marathon lesson clarified something important for me about my business — in particular, my style.  At the end of the whole mess I was crystal clear about what’s important to me about my relationship with my clients.

I’m thankful that some lessons are pretty easy — no big drama, no crashing emotions,  just “yeah, that went sideways.”  And that’s it.  And other lessons (bless them!) cause me to get my undies in a bundle before I find the gold.

This one was pretty big and had some punch.  My underwear got all in a bundle, but the worst part was how I didn’t notice it until it was way too late.  Funny how that works.

But I know at least two things about having one’s underwear in a bundle:

1. What’s the difference between a tragedy and a comedy?  A tragedy is when something not so great happens to you, and a comedy is when it happens to someone else.  Ha!  So I can pretend I’m the person observing, instead of the person to whom it’s happening.  I mean, why not!  I have a great imagination.  I can do that.  It works.  It makes it pass by with a smile.
2. If it’s something I could possibly laugh about in 6 months (Or a few days or hours), why not start now?  I can do that, too.  I can get over it enough to laugh.

And I’m here to tell ya (not too much later), I’m feeling entertained by what happened.

Really, it’s all because I bought myself a pair of these.

Now I skate through anything!  Woo Hoo!

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For more information about In Care of Relationships, click here.

About Terri Crosby — I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains with Eric, my partner of 14 years, two cats and a dog, and as many flowers and vegetables as I can plant.

It is my experience that children are born to teach (remind) parents, not the other way around.   I’ve learned more from my daughter MacKenzie than from all other humans combined.

I’m in favor of wandering time in the morning, listening to the birds calling to each other in the woods all around me.

Making fresh food is one of life’s big yummy pleasures, along with singing – especially creating heavenly, improvisational, prayerful, meditational sound.

I believe that poet Mary Oliver writes the best bedtime stories available on Earth.