Flexibility

It was Thursday night, and the high school homecoming dance was Saturday.

“Hi! I’m here to pick up my girls’ dresses. I left them last week and they should be ready today.”

I handed the seamstress my ticket, and she went to the back. She was there a long time. She eventually emerged, but she was empty-handed. Then I watched her walk to the desk where I waited, reach under it, and pull out the three items we had left there a week earlier. No tailoring had been done. She promised the dresses would be altered and finished the next day. They were not. I called again Saturday morning, slightly panicked. The owner again swore the clothes would be ready for pick-up by 1 p.m.

Oh boy.

Precisely at 1:00 on Saturday (the day of the dance!), I walked into the store. Thankfully, the seamstress handed me the freshly sewn dresses. Hallelujah! I quickly paid and raced home so my girls could try the clothes on. Annie’s dress was perfect. It looked great and the fit was just right. Julie put on her dress—there were some tears, and not of joy. The tailoring was not what we had anticipated. It looked like they only did half of the job, which left her sleeves looking like armpit wings. Seriously.

Time was running out. Her date was coming to pick her up at 5, and it was already after 3 p.m.

I’d have to fix things myself. Determined, I grabbed a needle and thread and started sewing. I’ll be the first to admit my shortcomings as a seamstress. My daughters will back me up, for sure. No one is urging me to go on Project Runway or anything. But I knew I could tuck those armpit wings in and create a much more flattering line.

So I did.

The crisis was averted, Julie looked beautiful in her dress, and she left for pictures on time.

I had a very similar experience 25 years ago on my wedding day, but this time it involved a wedding cake that was supposed to have gorgeous flowers and grapes cascading down it. Instead, the cake looked like it had been attacked by purple rabbit poop. The point is, everyone has stories like this—when something didn’t work out the way you had planned.

So what do you do?

First of all, try not to panic. Has panicking ever helped anyone? In my experience, it does not. Panic does a great job of bringing drama into the situation, and no one needs more drama. Especially not me. 😜

Most importantly, we need a little flexibility. Truthfully, some of us need A LOT of flexibility. Here’s the trick—being flexible starts in your mind. For real. To start, it helps if you quit believing there is only one right way to do everything. This isn’t true. It will be extremely difficult to see alternative solutions if we are so rigid in our thinking. Believe me, I wish Julie’s dress had been tailored perfectly and I never had to pick up my sewing stuff. I also wish the dresses had been done on Thursday night! However, those things didn’t happen. So we found a different path to getting her dress done the way she wanted. And it was just fine.

When things aren’t going according to plan, be open to new possibilities…things that you hadn’t considered before. Avoid complaining. Move forward in your mind first, and then take some action.

Flexibility.

It’s great for your body and your mind.

If you want a little extra help with flexibility or rigid thinking, let’s talk.