Fitting into corners ~ A Story of Priorities and a Jar

Before I sat down to type this post I was making my bed, a task I loathe as I always seem to take a ridiculous amount of time trying to tuck the sheet in trying to smooth out the wrinkles, and usually lose patience half way through trying to fit the quilt into the corners of the cover. But then it’s kind of worth the hassle as nothing beats that feeling of climbing into a clean, crisp bed…

And then I got to thinking, when it comes to fitting into other corners, is it always worth it? 

It’s easy to find yourself in a corner, wondering how you got there if you spend too much time listening to the expectations of others, listening to their perception of you and thinking, ‘You’re right, I am like that, so this is a really good idea, following this path, because really it’s the only sensible option at this stage of my life and won’t I be a bit of disappointment to you and to myself if I don’t try it?’

And it’s easy to forget to listen to another voice, the one that’s echoing in the perimeters of your brain, that’s demanding you listen to the creative dreamer. The dreamer sometimes gives you a good kick deep inside when you listen to a haunting song, and the goosebumps erupt up your arms, waking up your imagination, pulling you back into another part of your world you sometimes forget to spend adequate time in. Maybe that world got a bit real, when your words were released into a forum you didn’t quite understand, so you hid for a while wandering along another path of expectation that has more clear cut rules that you know how to follow…

But then you remember that day, when you were a few weeks into following the path with more rules, you found yourself sitting in a meeting and you were shown a video called, ‘A Story of Priorities and a Jar’. The smart professor on the video explained that if you fill the jar with sand first, then there will be no room for the rocks or the pebbles, which are the important bits. And you couldn’t quite shake the thought I’ve just gone and put a whole heap of sand in first and now I have to spend a lot of time sinking into the sand, when really there’s rocks and stones I need to collect to build something else…

So this is the start of me going back to building something else. Remembering to listen to the dreamer, and the dreamer is so happy as I type these words, that I can feel a little tingle dancing up and down my spine.

P.s The photo at the top is of a beautiful ‘Small Stones’ booklet that my friend Rebecca made me for my birthday a few months ago. You should check out her creative website here