I have been in the same office for the last two years. I ended up there in a rather serendipitous way – It happened to be just down the street from where I live, and the owner of the business was good friends with one of my closest friends. In short order, I looked at the space, had a visual of how I wanted it to look, and decided this was where I wanted to be. I never even looked anywhere else. The office is a business that buys Tampa real estate and manages the properties. It is comprised of several offices with one office that was unoccupied; that became my office. I liked everyone and they liked me; it was a good fit.
I found out three weeks ago that they need my office. They want to grow their business and my office is the only office available. I was really sad. When the owner told me – and by the way, he is also a good friend, I was totally taken by surprise. The first thing out of my mouth was, “But I don’t want to go anywhere”. Of course he said, “Take as long as you want,” but once someone tells me to go, I am already halfway out the door. I liked my office. I liked the way it looked, the way it smelled, the way it felt. I liked the shape of the room and the color of the walls; everything just seemed to work. I could feel I was holding on, and that didn’t feel good.
When one door closes and before another one opens, there is always the space in-between. That space originally manifests as a feeling of confusion, what St John calls dark night of the soul. But the space between one door closing and other one opening is where all the good stuff happens. It takes awhile for things to manifest on the physical plane. I hadn’t had trouble finding an office last time. How hard could it be?
When we are brave enough to stop resisting and surrender to what is, something magical happens. I looked at a few offices, made a bunch of phone calls, drove around. The owner of the office actually went to a building down the street (just 2 blocks from the office I was leaving,) told me he looked at offices for me but didn’t see one there that he thought I would like. He sent me a text and told me not to bother, but I ended up not getting it and went to the same building myself to see if anything was available. The offices they showed me I didn’t like and as I was leaving I said, “Isn’t someone leaving an office I could look at?” The property manager said, “Yes, someone is actually leaving next week.” We looked at the office and when she opened the door I felt like I had found my place. The walls had been painted a light and dark green – my favorite color – and I knew my furniture would work well. I decided to sign a year’s lease and move forward.
I set up a moving date with a client and his handyman to help me move. The day before the move my client called and asked if we could move on Thursday, rather than Friday. I re-arranged my schedule and we moved everything in Thursday. My brother helped me move the artwork earlier in the day so all that was left was the heavy furniture. The whole move took half an hour. Friday we had massive floods in Tampa. Not only could I not have moved on Friday but no one left the house. The rainfall was record breaking and the only thing to do that day was to stay put.
The minute I surrendered to “what is” everything just moved along with no glitches on the way. I don’t know what’s in store for me with my new office, but I know it will be good. Hope you enjoy the before and after. (New office not as green as pic.)
I love your new office. Do you paint?
Change: Ok, so when I left my husband almost two years ago, after years of angst in not being able to leave, for a variety of reasons, I so feared that change.
My husband is a hoarder. It was all I could do, topped with daily unnerving arguments, to stay on top of just keeping our 'common living area' in a semblance of order. I didn't realize how the stress of our environment was affecting my mental and physical health until I left.
Besides the unrest of a volatile relationship, and that angst that I left, I now feel enveloped in peace that emanates in my new home. It's just me and Buddha!
Here's a small example of what I left; and here's the welcoming entry to my new home:
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Posted by: Judy | August 15, 2011 at 05:33 AM