By Joyce Vaughn
I recently purchased a home. She is one hundred and thirty years old. And, yes, my home has a feminine energy.
This picture was taken before I purchased the home. I snapped a quick picture from across the street.
This home, ancient, but refreshed with new sheet rock, paint, and tile has become the bane of my existence. Have you seen The Money Pit? In it, Tom Hanks and Shelley Long buy this mysterious home and it quickly takes them down a spiral of financial loss and regret. I haven’t gotten there yet. And I won’t get there! Why? Because I have decided to let the problems come to me.
I can clearly see that the living room is literally slanted, the doors don’t close well, and everything needs repair. When I first moved into the house I thought I was going to save the day. I’m used to doing that – solving problems is literally what I get paid to do. Within three weeks of being in the home, I realized that I had been bested. I would never “solve the problem” or win on this occasion.
And that’s okay.
The house required from me what the past two years have been trying to teach me – to slow down and go with the flow. I’ve never been the person to go into something unprepared or without a plan. After I got divorced at the age of twenty-four, I created a detailed ten-year plan. I mean I wasn’t going to reemerge without a strategy. Today, at thirty-eight I’m learning a new lesson – I am not in control. Back to the house teaching me a lesson.
Here it is. I can’t stress myself out seeking problems. I have to let the problems come to me. Finally, after spending all the money, I have learned the lesson. If I spend all of my time investigating every crack, creak, and crash, I will drive myself crazy and spend all the money. So, I have embraced the beauty of letting life’s little dramas come to me.
I could be worried about a lot. I’m not confident about the well-being of the United States. I don’t know what’s going to break next at this house or how much it will cost. I don’t know if the squirrels will try to get into my attic again. But, what do I lose by worrying? I lose peace and contentment.
Instead of worrying I have decided to be confident in the woman that achieved all the things on her post-divorce, ten-year plan and to let the problems come to me.
This year, 2025, as you face a world of crazy, be confident in who you are and handle the problems as they come. I wish that for you. I wish that for me too.