I’m in a s
eason right now where I’m really busy at work. From the time I get there until I leave, it’s jam packed with fairly complex situations I’m navigating through. Not all those situations are puppies and kittens, some are hard, and heavy, and challenging. I’d go as far as to say some have a negative vibe. And as I’ve gotten older, I find I’m more in touch with the emotional side of myself, which means these situations leave a mark. I feel them, am impacted by them. I notice that impact more as time goes on.
As I stared at the bottom of the pool yesterday, doing my laps, I was thinking about the impact of negative energy. Negative energy can come from a lot of sources. I’m not saying my work situations are all negative, because they’re not. I get to do a lot of amazing work, work that helps people. But some of it is, we all have that. Negative energy is a powerful force, it’s draining, contracting, distracting. The truth is, it’s far more powerful than positive energy, so even a small amount of negative energy can overshadow the positive. Think of it this way. If you made some guacamole, and you dropped in a small amount of oil from a ghost pepper, just a small amount, your entire batch would be ‘burn your mouth off’ hot. You perhaps wouldn’t enjoy the creamy goodness that is guacamole. Negative energy is the same way, it takes over the positive.
This fact was glaring me in the face as I swam because, in the midst of a few negative situations, I have some amazing things happening in my life. I recently became a certified professional coach and my certificate came in the mail the other day, that was awesome. And, oh, my ex-husband and I have reconciled and are getting married again next Friday, yeah, that. If that isn’t over the moon positive and worth being a little more than excited about, I don’t know what is. But I realized I wasn’t sitting in that space. I was distracted by the negative energy. We went to get our marriage license the other day and had to rush through it because I had to get back for a meeting, he had stuff too, but I think I put more pres
sure on myself to get back. Yes, we did have to hang out while they prepared our license, but, man, celebrating that would have been great.
And that’s on me, and it’s on you, whenever we allow the busyness, the negative, to overshadow the positive, the joy, the celebration. That’s the awareness that struck me in the midst of my swim, and it’s one I don’t want to let go of. So I’m going to pause. Take a breath. Prioritize. Work on leaving the negative energy for God to work out instead of holding it in. What will you do? What steps will you take to hold space for the positive, to fiercely protect it and ensure it isn’t overshadowed? Write them down, have someone hold you accountable, whatever it take. Do it because if you don’t may be letting the joys of life pass you by.