When Life Pounces

Sometimes life seems to get rather complicated.  Orison Swett Marden said, “Obstacles are like wild animals.  They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can.  If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.”  I try to look all my challenges “squarely in the eye,” but on occasion there is nothing that you can do to stop the monster from pouncing.

I recently found myself preparing to have some minor surgery.  The date was set and it was supposed to occur in the doctor’s office.  I was prepared for this challenge and had it scheduled for a Friday afternoon so I wouldn’t have to take more than a couple of hours off from work.  I was ready and staring this wild animal squarely in its’ eyes.  And wouldn’t you know it; the silly thing pounced on me anyway.  You see, while I was talking to the doctor right before the surgery I was informed that the only type of local anesthetic that he had in his office was lidocaine and, seeing how I was allergic to lidocaine, I was no longer able to have the surgery in the office.  And with that news I was pounced upon and my best laid plans were no more – go figure.  So, a couple of days later, there I was using two of my last three days of vacation waiting for same day surgery...  The surgery went fine and, even though I was extremely sore, in two days I was back to work once again.

The more I reflect upon how things are right now for me and my family, life seems to involve more of being pounced on from behind than staring at something…  Most of our challenges seem to come out of nowhere and with no warning.  Granted, after the initial pounce, we have the ability to decide what to do once they are upon us; but until then we are totally oblivious to the pending attack.  Maybe that was what Marden meant:  the animal charges and we then can choose to stare it down by our reaction.  I personally wish that it wasn’t always such a painful encounter to begin with!