Method to Madness

“Here's to the guys who love us, the losers who lost us...and the lucky ones that get to meet us” – a quote I am pretty sure every woman I know as received at some point in her life. And I am sure there must be some male version of this floating around as well. End of the day we are all just trying to find something that gives us comfort - a thought, an action,that source of happiness. We spend hours belaboring the same issues… and yet the gravity of those issues never recedes nor does a solution really appear. We are just trying to organize something that cannot be organized.

A friend and I spent a couple of hours the other night discussing in great detail about our exact plans for the future. It was almost a step-by step flowchart of how each of our lives should pan out complete with near detailed decision trees of if- this-then-this-else-this. And hearing us you would think we know what we want. But if you have had these discussions you will relate to the fact that the next time one of us is down in the dumps, the same plans will be turned on their head.

I am not really sure why it is so difficult for us to just let go, to let life unfold itself. I am not saying not to take things in your hands, but more a situation of learning to take decisions when a decision box appears before you. For me, one reason is that I am a believer that although your destination may be pre-determined, your choices today will decide the journey. Hence, I try to plan- if this then this.

But there is a method to the madness. Sort of like a work assignment. You start of with a haphazard sense with just the goal in mind, you then get down to planning. Usually, the planning and execution blinds you so you start thinking of small details and forget that all important thing you began with – the big picture. That’s when you need someone to step in and remind you why you are doing what you are doing. You still continue to execute. Its just you are reminded of why you are doing it.

And that is where sometimes just a deep breath and a knock on the head from a friend helps. The trick is to make sure that the sources of reminders stay. The trick is opening up your mind and heart to people around and trusting that they mean well. To put yourself and everything you feel out there. Because if you don’t, ultimately, when you are lost, people will not know how to find you.

Hum of the day
To learn to depend and not think of it as dependence; to seek help and to consider the help a right; being taken for granted is a privilege. If only we remembered to see it that way.