RELATIONSHIP REDOX #6: SHOES

In about four hours from now my life is going to change. I am not sure if it will be for the better or not............but it reminds me of an old pair of shoes I wore to my first ever job interview in NYC with the Sterling National Bank CEO. After talking with me, the CEO of the bank sent me to Barney's of New York to see his tailor. There I got a new pair of shoes and a brand new suit courtesy of my new boss.

He told me I like you and your passion. I want you on my team and I want you to represent my brand but you need to look the part. Go see "my guy" and adapt and you have a job.

With that..........my life changed on the spot that day in 1981.

Above is a picture of the newest Chapter of my life that began today on 10/5/19.  I have purchased an entanglement shack on the beach on the panhandle of Florida where my misfits can come and change their lives, if they chose too.  My first ever VIP will be held there on 12/27/19 for 4 people who will possibily have their lives altered.  As the initial guest they will have special sculpted signs created for them by Jeremy who keeps his art sculpture business at www.JeremyThomley.com

On 10/5/19 one of my dearest friends is going through a similar change that I mentioned above, and that change is quite uncomfortable for them right now.  What follows is their words that describe their current plight.  

"I have absorbed some of that discomfort on their behalf because that is what good friends do when the storms in your life rise up. They walk in and shed some of their light on you to let you know better days ahead are coming. I have had a few of these friends recently come into my own life and do the same thing for me when the people who were around me could not understand what I was doing and why I wanted their chaos around me in my darkest hours. Now it is time for me to put some new soles on their shoes as they did for me.

I would like to apologize to the universe… Life has happened all around me lately. So many times in the past 4 years I have found myself questioning what is next for my family, my farm and business. I have pulled some people close and pushed others away… some for no reason, others for treason. My circle of friends once at my side are now mostly remote. They continue to live a life we agreed was most free, I chose a goal that meant I’d spend a lot of time saying no to other goals. I was not likely to become a better professional without a lot more work, I am not opposed to the idea in the future but I needed to run down this dream if it was ever to be my life. I am a new man, somedays a new father filled with new wisdoms. I also invested my heart in my new clinic and building a community of people who some would call employees or customers but truly they are my friends. I have watched this dream grow and be pruned by fear, grow again and be chopped down by what I can only name as jealousy. 

So many raw nerves had to be cut, amputees that feel weak till the tree grows new roots. I’m grateful for my wounds. I know this discomfort is necessary even when those in my rearview mirror do not understand what I am doing to my life now. This chapter is closing now. I might need to burn this passage after reading it, but I like how the wound makes me see the future more clear."

FURTHER ENTANGLEMENT OCCURS TODAY..............

The following is a story by a nurse Jenelle, I have become fond of lately. This story isn't really about shoes at all. Neither was our stories above...............

I have an old pair of shoes ...

They aren't really that old.

It was my first pair of shoes for my first nursing job.

I thought they were a great pair of shoes ... until my toes started hurting.

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I bought a new pair of shoes ~ and WOW! Now, I thought to myself, those are a great pair of shoes.

I realized when I got these new shoes, that I don't even have to use insoles in them. My back doesn't hurt, no matter how long I'm on my feet. My toes never hurt. I do untie them when I get in my car ... loosen them up for the drive home. But all day long -- up until that point -- I don't even think about my shoes.

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Sometimes, I still look at that old pair of shoes, and I think, "Man, those shoes are so cool! I wish I could still wear them."

Then I remember: There's a reason I stopped wearing that old pair of shoes. And I've tried those old shoes on since I bought my new shoes ... thought I could just wear them at home for a day, and see how they feel. NOPE. Those old shoes had to come right back off.

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I can hold them in my hands, turn them over, and see the places where the bottoms are worn ... a sign of every hustle-bustle, stressed-out moment I spent, walking MILES and MILES around that building, at my first job. And I can smile ~ and love those shoes, for what they once were to me. I can keep them as a reminder of where I've been, and what I've done.

But then I will put them back down, and walk away. In my new shoes. My new shoes are the newst chapter I am writing in my novel.

Sometimes I wonder when my new shoes will become my old shoes? Then I realize when the soles wear out, I'll know when to adapt and change my life again. Discomfort is the signal to my feet that I need to adapt. What will the next pair look like? And I keep an eye out for them.

But for today ~ I'm really happy in my new shoes and the chapter I am currently living out in my life. And that is good enough for me, right here and now.

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 Share with us your stories of devastation, growth, recovery and enlightenment below........

To get the relationships with humans you want, you often have to burn the old ones to the ground to make enough room for the roots to take hold before you add in the water and nutrients.