Recently I got a new medicine cabinet above my sink in our bathroom at home. Its predecessor had been there for twenty years, so this was a big change for me and my stuff.
Shortly after its installation, the trouble started. The fasteners that held the second glass shelf in place kept loosening. This in turn made the entire thing wobble. Frequently I would open the cabinet to a startling crash as my shaving cream and accompanying items toppled to the countertop below. Barely awake at times, this made for an unwelcome start to the day.
One morning, I opened the cabinet and the entire glass shelf with everything on it came tumbling down. Supplies rattled, bounced, and rolled everywhere.
I was not amused. To use a coaching analogy, I benched that shelf. “You’re done,” I said to the inanimate object in my hand. “I’m going to use three shelves, not four.”
As I put everything back into this newly envisioned three-shelf solution, I smiled. My supplies fit better with three shelves than they ever had with four. With the old layout, several items were too tall to fit, which meant they had to live on my counter. Turns out the unreliable second shelf had actually been a blessing in disguise. Had it not collapsed, I likely never would have identified this opportunity to improve conditions.
Isn’t that often the way life works?
Our challenges, whether small or large, often become our best opportunities for growth. I learned this years ago when I acquired my voice disorder, spasmodic dysphonia (SD). Initially, I saw my neurological condition as a liability, and in return, that’s how I experienced it. Gradually, after years of suffering, I started to think about it differently. I came to see SD as a blessing that had actually come to make my life better, not worse. Once I embraced my voice, more blessings began to flow from it.
When we approach our challenges with curiosity and fresh eyes, new opportunities come into our lives. There is no escaping pain and loss on this planet. Yet, along the way, the trials we face are also invitations to grow. Curiosity applied to chaos creates new sight. What we see determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get. When we meet the unexpected with curiosity, growth tumbles down upon us!
“Our lives are themselves random: chance encounters, events and the accumulation of accidents being the defining features of our span upon this earth.”
—James Bridle
