I once had a pair of shiny red heels. I loved them and wore them any chance I got even packing them for work trips when I could have gotten away with just wearing a standard black pump. It didn’t matter these were “my shoes” and I felt great in them. Eventually, the shine wore off those shoes and while I still loved the style they clearly had been wore until there was nothing left. I took them to a repair shop in hopes they could restore them but in the end I had to part with these special shoes.
When something is new we can’t get enough of it. New friends. New boyfriends. New love. New babies. New Job. New strappy red shiny heels. It doesn’t matter what it is just put the word new in front and it will be like find a new shiny penny on the sidewalk. Even if the boyfriend eventually turns out to be a jerk and the job sucks it was at one time in our life new and we wanted all we could from it. We think about it all the time. We are so thankful for it. It’s the best thing to ever happen to us, until it isn’t.
It’s terrible to say but I wonder if some things were really shiny to begin with and we just didn’t seem to mind. It was new to us. It seemed like a good fit. Sometimes another man’s trash is another’s treasure right? It’s better than we had. Maybe we can dress it up and it will be better than new? Like the old pair of wicker rockers I picked up at a tag sale and my husband painted for me. They look fabulous on the porch now. Sometimes we settle and sometimes it truly is a great diamond in the rough. The problem is how do you tell the difference?
Telling fool’s gold from the real thing sometimes isn’t easy. We want to believe we’ve hit it big and found the gem that is going to change our lives but it turns out to be just another job. Our super cool friend we thought we were growing close to was just using us for their own advantage to get ahead. Sometimes we don’t know until it’s turned sour and we’re hurt by it. Well, hurt, mad and a little bit wiser for next time. We insulate ourselves just a little bit more to prevent just jumping in so deep until we know it is going to be alright and it truly is the real thing next time. This is sometimes healthy and necessary.
I think in the times I’ve been been through this it’s not that something was shiny and had potential it’s that I was too eager. I was pushing for it to happen because I needed it. That sale that would help my month be solid. The friend that I really liked and thought shared common interest with me. The job I just knew was going to be incredible. I wanted it. Needed it. What I found seemed to fit those needs and I trusted it as kismet. At times that’s been alright to do and others I’ve been burned and hurt from letting my eagerness drive.
Being eager isn’t a bad thing. Right now our son is super eager for Santa to bring gifts. It’s anticipation and excitement. These are positive feelings that give us something to look forward to having, achieving and feeling. Where we sometimes let that go into overdrive is when we think getting there is going to be awesome part instead of realizing the journey and build up is actually the best side. It happens when we think we can rush process and this feeling we have now will persist once it happens. Usually though what happens is we feel good for a little while and then the new rubs off. We start to want something else that’s shiny or what we thought we wanted isn’t that great after all.
As I’ve gone deeper into what it means to live naturally, I realize more and more that it is the anticipation, journey, build up that is the best part. It is the cake that must be baked before you put frosting on it. Without cake you just have oversweet frosting that isn’t as good by itself because it is just a can of frosting that needs something to cover. When we wait for it to be baked though and we let it cool, smelling the aroma float through the house we get excited about how good it is going to taste. We think about how we’ll serve it and how delectable that first bite is going to be. We put it on a special platter and spend time carefully spreading the frosting over it. Then we cut that first piece and see this beautiful cake we can thoroughly enjoy every bite eating.
When we rush things or don’t take the time to explore what something is we can assume it’s going to be delicious just as it is. When we open all our gifts early we realize Christmas morning feels just like a regular morning now. What do we do on that morning if all our gifts are already opened? I realize it is hard to be patient when we think there is something incredible around the corner and maybe it is incredible but timing also adds to the shine. Rushing that could take away some of the shine. The practice of living naturally allows us to trust patience and perfect timing knowing that when it does come or we find it, there is no question of it’s perfection for us.
Enjoying the shine of something new is wonderful. Letting a new relationship blossom and feeling all the sparks from it is powerful. However, letting the fruit ripen and making sure it’s right for us is truly what sets the shine apart and lets it shine for much longer in our life. I did eventually find another pair of red shiny heels. They are not exactly like my prior ones but I invested in quality this time, taking the time to save up for them and shopping around to find the perfect pair knowing they would outlast many shoes in my closet. Sometimes taking the time to look at what we are letting enter our life and enjoying the journey of getting there can truly be the most beautiful part.
To learn more of living naturally check out my other great blog posts and resources at dragonspitapothecary.com