When Things Fall Apart, Read This

Energy. When we dream, plan, and strive to reach our goals, we are expending energy. And do you know why that is such a big deal? Because we are energy. We are literally investing ourselves into everything we do. At the end of a good day, we are exhausted, but we go to sleep, we rest, we restore ourselves and push forward into tomorrow.

That’s on a good day. What about a bad day? What about an unimaginable day? What happens when, by some twist of fate, everything you’ve worked so hard for falls apart? What if, like a favorite sweater with a loose thread, your dreams unravel before your eyes and you’re left with a tangible mess where your life used to be?

Picture yourself sitting on the ground with a pile of yarn in your lap. Some wise inexperienced fool would tell you to stand up and dust yourself off. Well, that’s just silly. Anyone who has ever held a lap full of yarn knows it’s full of kinks, and if you try to get up without untangling it first, you’re going to trip and land on your face. Trust me.

Take a moment. Take a breath. You don’t have to have a new plan this very instant. Find one end of that thread and follow it slowly, consciously. Eventually it will lead you to the first knot and then the next. Be careful to gather and care for the fiber as you unravel it—you don’t want to create more chaos. Focus on one tangle at a time; don’t get ahead of yourself.

I know it is tedious work. I know you are tired, but it has to be done. It will require more of your precious energy (more precious “you”). You must be tenacious. You must push yourself forward until what was once mess becomes material, and with this material you will create something new.

You may not have what you once started with—the texture has changed, the pattern appears different. It may even seem strange or foreign, but stand back and look at what you have created. Can you see the beauty? Those are the pieces of you that have been woven into this beautiful tapestry of life. You are an amazing work of art.