Are you both Scared and Excited?

It’s the Stomach Butterflies deadly cocktail which causes acid to churn in our gut. Something in our life escalates to a violent end forcing a big change or decision and we welcome it because like the ‘Is Staring over Worse than Where you Are?’ blog, we know it is ultimately best for us.

Without suggesting arson as a solution, I have seen what people have accomplished who have watched their homes go up in flames. One woman told me that the new home her and her husband built was the most joyful, bonding experience her family ever had together. She said they learned things about each other she never thought imaginable. They said they had fights, they argued, the house was full of tension and she said she was constantly reminded of the ex-wife who lived there before. No, she did not set the house on fire to kill the ex’s spirit, but she said one day while sitting in her new kitchen she smiled at how crazy everything was and giggled that the ugly wallpaper was now gone. You have to sometimes incorporate a bit of silliness and laughter into it. Injected humor can at least take the stinger out even if we still have to tend to the bite.

She said she wasn’t sure if she ever became completely excited about working on the new home. It was tight all the time, they ate in weird places, slept at strange family homes and were very overwhelmed. She did however tell me that she was excited and scared and wanted to throw up a lot.

The thing about her situation was that it was temporary. She had to view it as temporary. There are simple things in life we have to do that we don’t want to do in order to facilitate our change. If you have to sleep on a lumpy bed for a while, that is what has to happen. This woman had two big German Shepherds who had to board somewhere. She hated that too, but it was temporary.

She also took a lot of video and pictures and documented the whole transition. She then got together with friends and organized the pictures and videos into a presentation because she said she wanted to use all of her experience to inspire others. She documented the good, the bad and the extremely ugly. All of it was part of the experience. We don’t always get to choose what facets make their way into our experiences. I do love her lemons into lemonade approach.

Some of the best artists in the world have documented their hardships. Many people who make it out the other end wished they would have. Think about some of your favorite lyrics on your favorite records? What if those people didn’t go through that and didn’t document it? How would you have ever known about them? They went through something exciting and scary in order to come up with something that could soothe your soul when you crank it on your stereo.

The one thing I have experiences with the deadly stomach butterfly cocktail is that our bodies will mix it like this in order to propel us forward. My stomach acid became my Rocket Fuel…and I mean rocket fuel, not gasoline. I could get to the store on excitement, but I can’t get to the Moon with it, right?

Some people have the gift of ingenuity and natural drive which gets them to the Moon if that is where they want to be. Others have to have a fire set under them to get there. It would be lovely if we could fuel our move without the stomach cocktail, but hey, if that is the fuel you are burning, I vote use it to get out of your hell and into a place of peace. We have many tools in the toolbox at our disposal. I say use what you have!

Being scared sometimes can mean we are alive. It’s our body’s way of violently shoving us into the next place. Fear assists animals in staying alive, but animals will react according to their driving instinct. They don’t stay fearful for too long.

No, stomach acid is not healthy. It physically causes the pancreas to work overtime and it’s hard on us. But it is there for a reason. If it’s telling you something, you probably should listen to what it is saying to you.

Eating dry crackers and sipping Ginger-Ale,

Karen :)

“I never worry about action, but only inaction.” ~Winston Churchill