Image from Tumblr)
I must confess that I err on the side of being over-cautious. I never put my cup of coffee on the edge of the table, but safely in the centre, just in case it gets knocked over. I always check that the pot handles are safely facing inwards on the stove so as not to bump any of them down, and having hot food or, worse, oil to clean up off the floor. I never put my cell phone down anywhere because I might forget it or lose it. I've never lost a purse because I AM obsessive about where I keep it. All my cupboards are kept in perfect order so that I can, even in the dark, immediately put my hand on something I'm looking for (probably stemming from the days when we were still building our house and had no electricity, only gas lights and having law and order in the cupboards made life so much easier).
I won't say I'm OC (obsessive compulsive) or a 'fraidy cat. I bathed in cold water one winter because the geyser had broken and the repair man could only come the following day and I even went to town one day without my cell phone! I therefore have very few things that go "wrong" in my life, but I must say this trait does not entirely endear me to friends and family because I was constantly pushing cups back and telling people not to forget their cell phones.
I was a control freak for a long time. As the oldest child of four, I've always been used to taking control and leading the way. I was born with this ability to quickly envision the most efficient way through a task, activity, project, problem, puzzle, or challenge. And it infuriated me that people could not see the "end result" at a quick glance.
While this system works well for me, I did not want it to impact on anybody else's life. The need to control can be very exhausting, both for the controller and the rest of the people and I came to realise that everybody has their own "best way" of doing things, that I do NOT have to control how they are going to get their result or how long it's going to take them. I also got to realise: live dangerously, let the cup break! It's an opportunity to buy new cups. And a new purse every now and then also wouldn't be such a bad idea!
"Don’t worry about this world; it is not broken. And don’t worry about others.You worry more about them than they do… There are people waging war; there are people on the battlefield who are more alive than they’ve ever been before. Don’t try to protect people from life; just let them have their experience while you focus upon your own experience."
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