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AVERTING DISASTER
I have a fun little story to share with you this week, but before I dive in, I just wanted to say THANK YOU! Thank you for being here each week. Thank you for your emails, your comments + all-around support of The LIFT.
I love meeting with you here each week as we seek out life’s little lessons + ways to live more mindfully in the midst of what often feels like total chaos.
Every year at this time, a family memory comes up at our house. It happened in 2006 - 16 years ago - but it always comes up again around Thanksgiving + often at other times throughout the year.
If you knew me back in 2006, you would know I was not a foodie. I was not known for my skills in the kitchen. Food was just never that important to me.
This is rather ironic because if you know me now, you know I LOVE food. I love to cook. I’m obsessed with healthy eating. And, 2006 may have been the last (or nearly the last) year I ate any sort of meat on Thanksgiving. It was shortly thereafter I became vegetarian + eventually completely plant-based. Goes to show how much can change in a short period of time.
But back to my story...
My family + extended family celebrated Thanksgiving at our house that year. Even though I wasn’t that great in the kitchen + we were a good size group, it wasn’t necessarily stressful. Everyone brought a dish. We always have fun together. It was low-key.
All we really had to do that year was set the table, roast the turkey + make some gravy.
We were all gathered around the island in the kitchen getting ready to transfer everything to the big table in the dining room. We had just carved + plated the turkey + I was standing at the stove stirring the gravy.
About then, someone said - “Uh, Karen, I think something’s burning.”
Yikes! Sure enough. I looked back + realized flames were starting to fly from the stovetop.
Turns out, I had turned on the wrong burner. We had put the extra turkey into a Gladware type of container which was sitting on the back burner. With the burner lit underneath, it had just caught fire. Oops!
What happened next was very….well, it was very ME.
Did I panic + stop to put out the fire? Heck, no! Realizing the mistake, I quickly turned off the back burner, turned on the correct burner + kept whisking. Hey, you don’t want to get lumps in the gravy!
Meanwhile, the family swooped in. Everyone did their part to put out the fire + dispose of the extra turkey now covered in melted plastic.
Me? I just stood there stirring the gravy. I didn’t miss a beat.
Guess what? It all worked out fine. The fire was out + the gravy was perfect. No reason to panic. Crisis averted.
My family got a good laugh out of the whole incident later because this kind of reaction is so typical of me – not just in the kitchen, but in life. I’m generally so even-keeled. There aren’t too many things that get me riled up.
Truth is, I haven’t always been this way. It has taken some practice. I’m actually a Type A personality…high achieving, always in control, perfectionist. It’s just that over time, I’ve learned to let go + just ‘stir the gravy’.
This whole experience coined a phrase at our house - stirring the gravy. It’s a phrase you will hear often with my family.
Most of life’s little disasters are things you can easily manage if you just take quick action to adjust + then keep stirring the gravy.
Obviously, I learned a few lessons that day. Like, don’t put plastic on the stove. And, now with all my education around plastics + endocrine disrupting chemicals, I would also say - don’t put food in plastic to begin with - especially hot food. But that’s a whole other topic we will dive into another time.
The lesson that really stuck with me that day is that in a moment of crisis, don’t freak out. Find your role + make your contribution. Don’t get off track + distracted. Don’t make things a bigger disaster than they already are. Sometimes your biggest contribution is just to stay in your lane + get out of the way.
Keep stirring the gravy.
LUMP FREE LIVING
I got to practice stirring the gravy several times lately.
I participated in a health fair at the United Way in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago. It was a 2-hour drive to get there that took 3 hours due to a very rare torrential rain that morning. Attendance at the event was low - so it was quickly clear that my investment of time + energy might not ‘pay off’.
I was already proud of myself for not getting attached to all of the hard work that went into getting there, setting up my display + packing it back up. It was what it was. No big deal.
As I stepped out of the building at the end of the event still smiling, I had to cross a big street to get to the parking garage. It was windy + I was having a hard time seeing as my hair was wrapped around my face from the wind.
I was hauling a rolling cart loaded up with my table display + as I approached the crosswalk, a HUGE gust of wind blew through. I almost fell down, so I stopped to brace myself. That’s when the wind picked up my bag of samples + they all blew into the street.
I wish I had a picture to share with you. Needless to say, I could barely stand up myself, let alone find my phone to snap a picture of the disaster.
As I stared at the 50+ samples scattered on the corner, I had a little moment with myself as I realized there was no way I would be able to gather them all up. Rather than get upset, I took a deep breath + decided I just needed to let them go.
About then, two strangers from the other side of the street came running over. They helped me swoop up all of the samples packettes. Within moments, every piece was back in my cart + I was back en route to the parking garage.
Stirring the gravy.
Last week, our building had a major flood on the 9th floor. When I say major…I mean several units were flooded, the elevators were inoperable + we had no running water for a couple days.
This was the third flood in our building in the last three years. The last two flooded our unit. This one did not. But, it was interesting to observe myself in the midst of this disaster.
First thing, I had a bit of nervousness as the firetrucks pulled up to the building - perhaps a little PTSD as I remembered a firefighter helping me get my cat out from under the bed during that first flood.
Oh no, not again!
But, instead of going too far down that road, I took a deep breath + realized how grateful I was that our unit didn’t flood this time. Even if it did, we knew what to do. We had done it before. No reason to panic.
Those feelings of gratitude continued each time I walked up + down the 15 flights of stairs over the next few days. Sometimes lugging water jugs.
I never once grumbled. We figured out a game plan to optimize the situation + we just went on with our lives.
Stirring the gravy.
WHISK AWAY
With the holidays fast approaching, this mindset of stirring the gravy is a great thing to remember.
There are so many things in life that can easily distract us from what we’re doing + from what’s important in the moment. We have a choice. We can get worked up about it or we can just keep stirring the gravy.
You can stir the gravy anywhere you go. It is a particularly handy skill during family get-togethers. It can also be handy at work or in that volunteer group you’re working with.
The more you practice stirring the gravy, the better your life gravy will be. Lump free!
This season as the stress of the holidays sets in, remember to just keep stirring the gravy. Don’t let life’s little distractions pull you away from your task at hand. Things will work themselves out + one way or the other. And, it will be New Year’s before you know it!
YOUR MISSION:
This week, I invite you to practice stirring the gravy. Try to let go of something you’d love to cling to. Listen to the story you tell yourself. See if you can find a place to take a deep breath + redirect your energy back to where you’d like it to be.
IN SUMMARY:
I always like to take some time at the end of the year to reset my goals + plan the year ahead. I think it’s a key thing for helping me stir the gravy in life.
Last year, I took the month of December off of publishing The LIFT so I could focus my energy on those plans. I have decided to make that an annual tradition. So, this will be the last issue of The LIFT for 2022.
Next week, I’m going to share a few of my favorite LIFTs from this past year + then give you a chance to catch up on any issues you might have missed while I take a few weeks off + prepare for an amazing 2023.
See you next week?
Meanwhile - you can read thru the archives here. And, please reach out to me anytime!
Email: karen@becounter.com
Instagram: @redefiningkaren
This was probably the most resonating Lift for me! Thank you for sharing your wisdom and humor in such a relatable way! Love you and will miss you, BUT as we all take a rest for the next month, I will make you proud with my own Lump Free Living daily practice! xoxo
Seriously, my Momma was an average cook but she made the very best gravy!! So I learned there are proper and necessary ingredients required to make gravy and stirring is most important!!
I will try to keep stirring the gravy instead of letting stress catch up!! Thanks Miss Karen!!!!