When doing nothing is the best action.

Ever struggled, when in a difficult situation, to figure out what's the best thing to do? I know I have. There's been many times when I literally found it hard to, 'see the wood from the trees.' I also found that at times like that, struggling to find the answer, or the way out, only seemed to make things worse.

This morning I decided to wear a necklace my hubby had given me as a present. It's four small rubies surrounding a small diamond, on a fine gold chain. As I mainly wear either pink or purple, I don't wear it very often. When I took it out of its box, the gold chain was all tangled and knotted. At first I tried to untangle it in my hand. I was getting nowhere. Then I remembered that in the past when this has happened, I've found it easier if I laid the chain on a hard, flat surface and use something sharp, like a needle, to gently tease the knot apart. I placed the necklace on a table and fetched a needle out of my sewing box ready to begin.

One of the ways that I'm affected by Lupus is that I have very dry eyes as I don't produce sufficient tears to moisten them. As a result I have to put drops in my eyes several times a day. Rather stupidly, I decided to put some drops in, before trying to untangle the chain. This only served to make the task more difficult, as the drops initially make my vision very blurry. At first I tried to persevere, but instead of untangling the chain, I seemed to be making things worse. Eventually I decided to wait for my vision to clear before trying again. This time I was able to untangle the knot in the chain very easily.

As I fastened the chain around my neck, it struck me that there was a lesson to be learned here.  Some of the situations we find ourselves in can, metaphorically, blur our thinking. When we're stressed, suffering a bereavement or have been hurt by the actions of someone we care about, maybe the best thing to do, is nothing; to let it go and just wait until our emotions are less intense and we're able to think more clearly and rationally.

I have heard this before. but somehow having this practical demonstration seemed to really make it hit home. 

Waiting and doing nothing can be very hard to do, especially if you're in a situation that you desperately want to get out of. But by waiting until the time is right we can save ourselves a lot of unnecessary stress.

Like all of life's lessons, this might not always apply. sometimes the right thing to do is to remove yourself from the situation, and then do nothing for a while. I guess learning what's the right thing to do at any given time is all part of life. But I believe that deep down inside us, we know when we're doing, or not doing , the right thing for us at that time.

I did at one point think of putting the necklace back in the box and wearing something else, but I'm glad I persevered. Next time I can't, 'see the wood for the trees,' I'll think of this necklace and the lesson it taught me and hopefully save myself from some unnecessary stress.


Photos Isabel's own plus,

Letting go a courageous thing.jpg courtesy of:- lessonslearnedinlife.com