Someone posted this on social media. I know it was meant to be a chuckle to get us through the stress of the holiday season and I feel most of us see it and identify deeply. Something else came to mind for me.
A good friend’s grandmother extolled this:
If a string is in a knot,
Patience will untie it.
Patience can do many things—
Have you ever tried it?
It’s OKAY if there are knots. They will happen to us all, ESPECIALLY when not secured properly, bounced around or exposed to harsh elements without maintenance.
We’ve all struggled with knots before.
Did getting frustrated and yanking EVER help? Okay, okay, that one time when you felt like a puzzle master and magician out of sheer luck doesn’t count.
What about when we force and yank the “knots” inside ourselves? We have so much patience for everyone and everything outside ourselves, but not for us.
So, maybe this year we are the string that is in an unsolvable knot that just won’t light up.
Maybe what all those “lights” need is some time, patience, a new tic tac sized fuse (those things are so slippery) and to be allowed to sit this season out and be ready to surprise everyone next year when the plug check happens and they dazzle when they were presumed dull or dead.
Nature is currently going to ground in this hemisphere. Flora and fauna are gathering resources to hunker down these dark cold days to blossom, raise their heads and wipe their eyes when the warmth tells them to.
Forcing “resolute” change on the turn of a calendar page at the start of a new (calendar) year when the rest of the natural world isn’t yet ready to see what the year holds? Have difficulty keeping the resolutions?
Where do those timelines and “shoulds” come from? Are they yours? Have they ever been? I’ll put my nature observing, therapy soap box up.
But I want to tell you.
It’s okay to be the tangled string that feels vexing to yourself and others. Maybe with some patience in the next season you will shine in a way that is surprising!
Happy holidays and remember, patience can do many things!
Be well.
**
Meet Maggie Kappler:
Maggie is a Licensed Professional Counselor and served in the United States Navy for over ten years. She has been a practicing therapist for over seven years. Maggie is comfortable working with many different populations with varying levels of issues. Depression, anxiety, trauma, substance use, and military-specific stressors are a small cross-section of the issues she treats.
Maggie holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in two states. Her uses a client-centered approach which means that the work you do with her will be tailored to you specifically using a large variety of modalities. Cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, Gestalt techniques, and many others will be applied during your time together as you collaboration dictates what will be most effective.