When our world crashes, and it will, what do we do?
- Deborah Ann Minke
- Apr 11
- 3 min read
Fear. We have all experienced it, that feeling of pain and overwhelm when it feels like our world has come down around us. I remember the feeling when I got a letter from the taxation center. I was in trouble for not reporting babysitting money. Babysitting money? We have to claim that? I was young. I had no idea. It was like a dark cloud fell down from the sky and engulfed me. You know the musical score in horror movies? That was playing in the background. I tried so hard to achieve in life, to recover from disappointments, to live a life of love, and yet one decision and all that hard work meant nothing?
For those of us who grew up with fear, who often live with anxiety daily, such events can be devastating. Unfortunately, that is life. Our lives can change in an instant: one accident, one bad decision, one bad medical report, one bad relationship and our world can be turned upside down. We are freely going about our business, then it all shatters. It can and WILL happen to all of us. I am sorry to tell you this, but it can happen to YOU at ANY time. This is life with all its challenges, journeys, and mountains to climb.
When your world crashes, what do you do?
I was at the dentist yesterday talking to the hygienist who told me about her husband’s death, an air force mechanic, who travelled the world to war zones, right in the middle of these war zones, numerous war zones. How did he die? Military ambush? Enemy fire? Air force crash? No. No. And no. He survived all those war zones and was killed in a snowmobile accident at home. Life, or death, happens when we least expect it, and we can’t truly prepare for it.
So, what do we do? Live our lives in fear, ready for the next crash? You like to be prepared, don’t you? Stronger and more able to handle things, right? Wrong, not to mention causing enormous damage to your body...think heart disease etc. We can’t live like that. It will take every drop of joy, peace, and love out of our lives, leaving us with what? Is that really the kind of life that you want?
Fear can devastate, trample on all our hopes and dreams, if we allow it. We think we have control over life, but that is only an illusion and, in the meantime, we lose what really matters: peace of mind. We all fear those crashes. None of us like the pain that comes with them. However, closing off your heart and building walls around it will only cause you more pain. Trust me, I have done it and have had years of regret because of it. Keep your heart open and accept that, as the hygienist said, we all have our stories. This is life: the good, the bad, and the crashes. You will get back up and keep going. We all do.
That tax issue, by the way? It resolved just fine. Make sure you teach your kids, even if they shovel the neighbour's driveway next winter, to claim it on their taxes. You don’t want them to have that crash. They will have enough mountains of their own to climb.
Deborah Ann Minke, M.A., B.Ed., OCT, CH-C
Energize and Rise LLC
(I write my own blogs :)
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