The other day I saw a post on Instagram that stopped me mid-scroll. It was a St. Patrick's Day themed post from the account @positivelypresent. The image had a golden background with a bright green four leaf clover with the following text:
“one of the luckiest things that can happen to you is… not getting what you want.”
At first, when I read that, I felt a surge of resistance in my body. I’m pretty sure I frowned and scoffed and was like, “Pshhh… yeah right.” Because who likes not getting what they what? Like, not getting what you want sucks, right?
But… the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the post was right.
Does it suck when we don't get the promotion we wanted, or the house we wanted, or the relationship we wanted to work out, or the scholarship we applied for? Yes. Yes, it does.
But, there are other times when and where it's a really good thing that we don't get what we want.
For example, a few years ago, there was nothing more I wanted than to get a tenure track job at the university my husband and I were working at. Alas, due to politics and other corruption happening, I was never considered for a tenure position, and at the time, that was absolutely INFURIATING! I was hurt and frustrated and exceedingly angry.
But... when I look back at that experience now, I am so unbelievably luck that I didn’t get a tenure track position because I now work at a school that I love and I live in a city that I love, and my life, overall, is just so much better.
By not getting what we thought we wanted now, the universe is protecting us. She’s saying, “hey girl… this isn’t it. You deserve better. Buckle up for the ride.” Of course, it might not feel like that in the moment… but, we’re so lucky the initial thing didn’t work out because something better is coming.
If you want a deeper dive into this topic, listen into The Power Within Her podcast!
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