Mindful Monday | Nothing is over

Nothing is ever really over ... just over there. - Carrie Fisher

For all our talk about process, we sure do like it when something challenging is over. Buttoned up. Finished.

Problem is, few things stay that way.

You finish your taxes for the previous year and then you realize that you're midway through the current year and need to be tracking your expenses and income for next year's taxes.

You finish the laundry and at the end of the night, there are more dirty clothes than need to be washed.

You eat a meal and the kitchen needs to be cleaned and things put away.

You mow the lawn and next week you need to do it again.

You bring in the mail and tomorrow the mail carrier brings more.

You break up with someone and you still have entanglements that need to be navigated.

Maybe you have children or other ongoing responsibilities.

So even though you thought you were finished, in some ways you're just beginning.

How often in our lives does this happen?

We think we're finished and we find we're back at the start of either the same thing or some variation of it.I used to love and hate the game "Chutes and Ladders."It was great when I was winning and racing across the board. And devastating when I would suddenly land on the mouth of a chute (slide) and lose all that progress.

It would have been great if someone had told me as a child that life is not a straight line.

That I am going to make progress and have setbacks.

This ebb and flow of movement or progress can be seen everywhere if you're looking for it.

‍The tide comes in and goes out twice a day.

‍Seasons change.

‍Politics swing progressive and regressive.

We aren't always going to get our way or what we want. It's ok. We aren't supposed to always win.

What we are supposed to do is keep playing.