Changing A Nightmare into a Dream
In January, my family and I went on a lovely holiday to Huatulco, Mexico. It was the perfect time to be away as temperatures dipped below -40 degrees Celcius at home. The day we returned however was not so perfect.
Picture this. You’re tired from a long flight and a long stopover in Regina. It’s one o’clock in the morning and you just want to get home. Finally the plane arrives at your destination. The weather outside is still cold – the coldest night to date – it’s -46 degrees with the windchill. So cold that as you eagerly await getting off the plane, you wonder why they aren’t opening the door.
The pilot makes an announcement. The door is frozen shut and you will need to wait for them to de-ice it. Fifteen minutes later, the door opens, and now you wait for customs and your bags.
Your kids are tired. So are you. It’s ok. You make it through. You and your family run for your vehicle that has been parked in long-term parking for the last two weeks. You’re freezing because your coats are locked in the vehicle…which won’t open. The car battery is dead, so dead that the key fob won’t unlock the doors.
You make a quick decision to run back into the airport running as fast as you can hoping you and your family will escape frostbite. You ask for a cab and have to wait for a van because a car just won’t carry all your luggage and you too.
Finally, you get in the van, you get home…finally. Home sweet warm home. Except when you enter the house, it’s not warm. It’s 14 degrees in your house, the gas fireplace is on (thank goodness), but the furnace is broken.
You get the kids to bed with extra blankets and electric heaters in place and you don’t sleep worried that your chimney will freeze over and you’ll be dead of carbon monoxide poisoning. You also wonder how in the heck you are going to collect your dog from the kennel the next day given the vehicle that is dead is the only one the dog will fit in.
This was my nightmare. It’s a true story.
The next day I woke up exhausted barely sleeping a wink. It was now 13 degrees in the house. I was well aware that a string of crap was being created before me and if I wasn’t careful, it would continue.
I am a firm believer that we create our lives – the good, the bad, and the ugly. I don’t know what had created this ugliness, but I was done. I literally exclaimed to the Universe, “This is NOT going to be my life! This stops NOW! And all of this will be rectified with grace and ease!”
I want to reiterate that I meant business. I was dead serious in my convictions. My life was going to move smoothly through this and beyond. Fay HAD spoken!
My husband called the furnace repair people. They said they would have a repairman call that morning to come look at the furnace. Great, except we had to go take care of our vehicle. I told my husband we weren’t waiting for the furnace person. We’d get the call on my cel phone.
I drove my husband to the airport. We boosted the vehicle. It started but the battery was having trouble holding a charge. I had to follow my husband in his vehicle to the kennel which is 45 minutes out of town. If it stalled, it wouldn’t start again without a boost and it was still -40 outside.
We got to the kennel, retrieved our dog, and just as we were headed home, we got a call from the furnace repair place saying that a person would be showing up in 45 minutes to an hour. Perfect timing.
The furnace repairman was fantastic and what we thought might be thousands of dollars was only $300 to fix.
We had to take the car to the mechanic to have the battery changed (such is the plight of those with newer luxury vehicles – can’t do it yourself). The mechanic was able to take us in and do it right away.
What ended up being a nightmare unravelled like a dream. It seamlessly and easily came together. The nightmare could have easily continued, but it didn’t. I know it was because I demanded something else from the Universe with such ferocity, knowing, and conviction that no other possibility could have existed.
I don’t care what created the crap in the first place. It’s over because I demanded that it stop. We don’t need to dissect our crap. We just need to flush it away.
I hope you can remember this story the next time you find yourself in a nightmare. Instead of complaining, blaming, feeling powerless, or going into the “Why is this happening to me?” state, know you have another choice. You have the choice to demand a change and the power to make it happen.
As a final note, know you don’t need a crisis to make a change. You always have the choice to demand a change and you always have the power to make it happen.
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