Do you ever realize something, have a thought or even a revelation of sorts, and then…the universe conspires to make you realize that yes, this is where you should be, this is what you should be thinking… ?

It happened to me yesterday.
I’ve been thinking – and writing, in my personal journal – about how who I was led to who I am. How as much as I sometimes want to go back – back to when life was, well, a bit easier, I can’t.
And I actually don’t want to, now that I think about it.

The past is viewed with hindsight, those lovely rose tinted glasses of nostalgia.
And yet, there were things that drove me crazy about the life I was living then.
Those things that drove me crazy put me on the path to who I am now.

Who I was is who I am… those elements of me that I miss now? They’re still in me. They’re not lost – they’re simply serving as the building blocks for who I am now.

So, thinking all of this, and pondering about it most of the weekend, and… then I got Oprah’s newsletter in my email yesterday. (Yes, I know, but really – sometimes there are good ideas or articles linked in there!)

And this was the quote – from the Buddha, no less – that was in the image at the top of the newsletter…

Synergy. You gotta love it.

After that post last Monday, I proceeded to have one of my worst days ever.

I had the wrong date for a guest lecture.

It snowed. A lot.

My leg hurt. A lot.

I got to nothing on my to-do list.

It was a mess.

So the restart happened later last week, not Monday. But now, I am finally, finally, finally feeling more like myself. Being sick sucks. I am the worst sick person on the face of the planet. Really. I hate it.

And yet, the past three days, I’ve had so much more energy. I’ve moved more, gone back to taking the bus to work, and even started with some mini-workouts. My appetite is better, the brain fog is gone, and I feel like I can actually tackle the four-page to-do list I have.

Sometimes, I guess it just takes time. When you’re impatient, as I am, and when you hate being sick, as I do, then a long illness and recovery period is one of the most frustrating things on earth.

But sometimes I also have to realize that taking the time to heal, to really come back to myself, is more beneficial than trying to fight the illness in the first place.

Lessons learned. Plans change. Life’s curveballs don’t take grant deadlines or other obligations into account. They just come at you. And I think I might finally be learning how to hit a curveball… finally.