Trapped
What are your dreams for the future? Are you doing anything about them? Or are they just daydreams on the horizon that move a day into the future with every day that passes? Dreams come wrapped with change. Will you be able to make the required changes in your life to embrace those dreams? Or will you remain trapped in a static world of your own making? Be careful what you wish for — it just might come true.
He was starting to hate his life and he longed to escape. Every day he worked away, and every night too. Then he would go home and work some more. Pets to take care of, maintaining a property and a household, caring for an elderly parent. They used to do all these things together, but they had fallen out of love. She told him it was over . . . that was a year ago. Drudgery ensued, day in and day out. He had one little escape, a small slice of life on the internet and social networking. There he could forget his cares for awhile. Find beautiful music and videos. Exchange comments with friends he met across the world. Find a new love. It did not take up much space.
It all started so simply. A face next to a comment on a site he frequented. He sent a friend request, and the connection began. Silly responses to casual postings led to the realization that he had a lot in common with this person. Postings led to messages led to phone calls and the decision to finally meet. They were spending so much time talking with each other that it was just the next logical step. But that is where dreams met reality, a collision of his life as it was now with his life as it could be.
He was a busy executive, so she came to meet him. She wanted to see what his life was like and imagine what their world could be together. But first, they had to see if they still liked each other as much in person as they did via the wires. He was shy and reserved. It was easy to be relaxed and talk with her on the phone, but now they were face to face. He could barely contain his panic. She was nervous as well, and she found she could not read his expressions, for he was very good at hiding behind his mask. A polite dinner was shared and he dropped her at the hotel. She was jet lagged after a full day of traveling the time zones and they made plans for lunch the next day. She knew that the man she had fallen in love with was in there somewhere, and she was bound and determined to find him.
Their days were filled with lunches and dinners and visiting his favorite places. She took photos of everything so she would be able to remember details when they talked from afar. As they came to his private world though, the problem uncovered itself. A short visit to his home revealed the clutter that accumulates when things are set aside day after day and year after year. They visited his office so he could check his mail. She brought her laptop with her so she could process photos while he worked. Layer upon layer of paperwork covered his workspace. There was not even a spot where she could sit, so she sat cross-legged on the floor while she transferred files from her camera. One set of photos had turned out particularly striking. She brought her laptop to his desk so she could show him. He could barely clear enough room on his desk so she could set the laptop down. The beautiful world he had worked so hard to build through the years had become cluttered as his dreams unraveled. She might be a new dream, but could such a world have room for her?
There was hope, for he had found the one person who could really help him deal with clutter. She was an expert in organization and change management. If anyone could guide him through the clutter of his life, she could. She told him how easy it would be, that next time she visited she could start helping him to get his life back, revive the beauty of everything he had worked so hard to accomplish. More lunches and dinners and favorite places were shared, then she took the plane back to her home, beautiful and clutter free. That night she dreamed of their new life together. She was so happy . . . but that did not last very long.
The next morning, she sent a text and got a curt message back saying that it was a “school day” there. There was no daily phone call that night, or the next, or the next. After weeks of having talked with him every single night, she had been set aside, with just a quick phrase or two in response to her messages. Allowing her to join his life meant that there would be new patterns, and that old problems would have to be resolved. She seemed to be the answer to every last thing that he needed, but he was not ready for his world to change. Instead, he told her that he did not love her and he never called her again. The Universe had placed his salvation right at his door, and he had closed the door tight.
He went back to his normal routine. Working day and night. No room for himself. No room for his dreams. She went back to her routines too, but some no longer worked so well. She went down to the bluff and sat on the bench, the one where she used to call him and they would dream of one day sitting there and sharing the view together. She stared out to sea and she started to cry.
There are many people who walk this earth in this very same life pattern, one of clutter, where there is no room for what they want to enter their lives, even it if is placed right at their feet. What to do? It is easy, yet it is hard. To make room for what you want in life, you are going to have to deal with the clutter. Your beautiful dream world awaits you . . . if only you will embrace it and open the door marked ‘Change’.