Living in Limbo

Having recently moved house, I have experienced a great deal of "living in limbo", which in the case of moving generally means waiting around on a lot of other (important - in their own minds anyway!) peoples' decisions and actions. Like many of you, I prefer to be in control of my own destiny, at least deluding myself that I'm doing something useful, not having to fit around somebody else's timetable.

And that's the crux of it - delusion. We never really have control, even of ourselves and our lives, it's nothing more than an illusion. We always have to adapt to variables like other people, the weather, availability, capabilities, finances and so on. We do it all the time and barely blink an eye, but the stress starts to build when many of these elements arrive together, especially when they affect major aspects of our life - health, home, work - and threaten the very foundations of our beliefs and attitudes.

It's not possible to prevent these events all of the time, and anyway, why would you want to? The real issue is inside our heads - not the events themselves, but the way we view them. The more inflexible and rigid your approach, the greater the impact of uncertainty and disruption. Ironically, the only way to regain some of the sense of control is to let go of the need to control everything. For example, if we don't see it as "disruption" but as part of being alive and human, doesn't that immediately change the focus?

I understand that when major aspects of your fate are largely in the hands of others, it can seem almost impossible to relax and remain calm, you feel helpless and useless. The point is, that unless you can find a way to accept and manage the situation, you may implode!