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Health & Fitness

When nothing else makes sense, be of service...

Recently my life resembled the unraveling thread of a favorite sweater. You know the one that gets pulled and just keeps undoing the recognizable pattern of all that was familiar and comfortable? Try as I would, there was no way to stop the inevitable undoing. In fact the more I tried to salvage what was familiar to me, the more resistance I met. Until finally, I just let the yarn unravel itself and resolved to re-purpose the raw material of the yarn itself. It took getting to my wits end and receiving a phone call from someone I love who needed my help to turn things around. It was a couple months ago, when I found myself in such despair over multiple losses that included things and people I associated with security. Indeed, it was the perfect storm of loss that brought me to my knees. In fact, I was in the middle of giving up when the "Sherwood Forrest" ringtone of my iPhone distracted me from my despair. I noticed the name of a family member light up the compact screen. It was someone I knew (in the scheme of things) had recently been dealt a worse hand then my own. There was no choice but to put aside my own grief and be there for that person. In an ironic twist of fate, she asked me if I could help her. She was scheduled to have fetal surgery on her unborn baby to repair a defect and asked if I would travel to Colorado to help her and her husband manage as she would be on complete bed rest until the baby is born. It was at that point when I saw a pin size beam of light flicker through the dark clouds. Someone needed me and I needed to be needed. Everything just fell into place for me to take the time off work and travel to Colorado. There was no resistance. It was as if all the losses had to happen for me to do what would be required of me to show up and help. In an ironic twist of fate, I ended up traveling from my home in Newtown, Connecticut to Aurora, Colorado. I'm staying at the Ronald McDonald House where I am helping my family member do all the things we tend to take for granted on any given day when we are not medically incapacitated. The ironies of this situation are multifarious. The first and most apparent is that of Newtown and Aurora's status of recent mass shootings. I'm getting used to the eye widening reaction when anyone asks me where I'm from or I am required to give my driver's license for identification. Another significant irony I want to mention is how by being of service to another person shifted my overall state of mind. They say that time heals all wounds. I say while your waiting for the passage of time to heal them, be of service, show up and suit up. For one it makes time go by quicker and two you will leave something positive in your wake that you can feel good about. The endorphins associated with feeling good will help to combat feelings of depression. It's a win win situation.

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