I had kind of an interesting dream last night…
I had met up with my scout troop in the middle of an outing, and randomly I asked them how they fared enduring the hurricane! This was somewhat shocking to them because as we talked, we quickly came to realize that the terrible storm that I was asking about … hadn’t actually happened yet.
I woke up shortly after that, so I didn’t really get to see how this new knowledge of the future would actually play out, but it got me thinking while I was laying there trying to fall back asleep – if I was able to tell myself something at a specific point in my past, what would I say?
“I know that you feel broken and alone and hopeless right now, and I’d be lying if I said that you weren’t going to feel this way for a while, but eventually it will pass and you’ll meet someone who completes you in ways that you can’t even fathom right now, and everything is going to be ok.”
“I know that having kids is the last thing on your mind right now, but someday you’re going to be a Dad. It’s going to be a very hard road to get there and you’re going to spend a lot of money and relationships with the people around you will change, but everything is going to be ok.”
“I know that it doesn’t seem like a big deal to postpone moving across the country for just one more year, but there’s so much more out there for you than this little town has to offer and you really need to spread your wings and explore and be around a diverse populace. Take the leap – everything is going to be ok.”
I found it intriguing that regardless of the scenario that I considered, I didn’t really have much in terms of new advice to tell myself for the past. The best that I could do was offer that hint of reassurance that despite how terrible struggles like heartbreak and infertility and moving away from home seemed at the time, somehow in hindsight everything had its way of working out ok.
One of my favorite quotes along these lines right now goes something like this…
“Never forget that so far you’ve survived 100% of the worst days of your life that you’ve ever had.”
It’s still hard to think about in the moment, though, so maybe we need to get to work on figuring out time travel just the same. 😉