It's not the end of the world

It’s not the end of the world.

Have you ever found yourself using this phrase? Lately, I’ve been saying it a lot. I know it’s not the end of the world because I am currently living at the end of the world so anything that may or may not happen is not the end of the world.

Things always have a way of working themselves out even when it seems hopeless. I have no idea how or why that is, but it’s true.

For example, just over twelve years ago, I thought it was the end of the world when my marriage ended. I was frightened and ashamed of myself, my life and my defunct marriage. I didn’t speak to my friends. I wandered around in daze for months. I had no idea what I was going to do with my life when I boarded that plane leaving Hawaii, headed east to West Palm Beach, FL to stay with my folks because I had no job and I was broke. Had it not been for them, I would have been living on the streets of Honolulu.

SO I got to Florida, spent a few weeks in the sun trying to make sense of everything that had happened so quickly. I found a job. I started to work so I had a bit of money again. I started to evaluate my life and decided I wanted to go back to school. My best friend flew down from Massachusetts to drive with me across the country back to NM so I could realize my dream of finishing my degree in microbiology. It was not the end of the world and everything worked out ok.

A few years after I was in NM, I met a guy and started dating him. I thought to myself, “He is great. I think he might be the one.” For years we were off and on, more off than on now that I think about it. I always wondered what was going on with him. Somedays he seemed to be with me and other days, absent. Turns out, he had another girlfriend the whole time I was seeing him. I remember hearing about it for the first time and disbelieving that it could be true. I thought he loved me. Once I got confirmation that he was in fact, sleeping with her on a regular basis, I thought it was the end of the world again.

I didn’t know what to do or think. I knew I needed to leave, but I loved him. It was agonizing so I stayed for 2 years to give him the opportunity to redeem himself. Of course he didn’t so I bought a house and moved out. Again, it wasn’t the end of the world and the course it set in action has proven to be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling of my life.

So where does that leave me now? I’ve left things that have not been good, I’ve found things that are better and I’m rolling with whatever punches the universe sends to me.