Renovation

I think, if a person pays attention, it is possible to gain a fair bit of personal insight while carrying out fairly mundane tasks.

During the clean-up/minor renovation of my friend's house, I have noticed that I make plans to deal with the worst possible outcome. In one room I decided the smartest thing to do was to try to take the carpet up in one piece just in case the floor beneath it was damaged.

This was difficult, ( but not impossible) to do. However, when it became apparent that the floor was in perfectly good shape and we would not have to re-lay the old carpet as the best choice to make the house look presentable, I realized I had created a bigger job for myself in lugging the carpet down to the back garden than was actually necessary. In fact, I wasn't sure I could manage it on my own.

It never occured to me to make a contingency plan just in case the best possible outcome was the result of my efforts. I ended up wrestling with a giant chunk of green shag carpet as big as a whole room. It also never occured to me that once the carpet was up and the floor had met my standards, I no longer had any reason to preserve its integrity. I was so focused on the negative possibilities that I couldn't let myself see any room for the positive alternatives.

I finally managed to get it down the stairs and out the door but it did give me something to think about.

I am planning to extend my trip to Boston, it's possible it will even carry over into a trip to Austin. Seems the feeling of things coming to an end in Ottawa was absolutely correct but I couldn't let myself prepare for the possibility of getting exactly what I want out of life so my apartment is still halfway there. I wanted to get rid of everything but being sensible, I planned to return, just in case. Now it looks as though returning will create more hurdles in a situation where the hurdles are rapidly clearing as long as I listen to circumstance and accept the good and stop trying to block the flow of events in my own life.

Short lessons: make plans for both the worst contingency and the best possible outcome - both are equally possible. And when it comes to being sensible, listen to your feelings, they know the score better than you think.