How I learned this little gem was long ago when I was in my early 30's. I could only be up for 20 minutes a day. I struggled. I went to the doctor and all the tests came back "normal". I felt anything but normal. I was talking to another lady that just beat cancer. She pointed out to me that it was mind over matter. If I would just put my mind to getting the house work done it would be done in no time. (Side note, I knew this woman but we were not friends.) After this stern lecture I went into my house and decided to put the dishes away. Mind over matter. About half way through this 15 minute job, I slid down the cupboard and collapsed on the floor. I laid there pondering my dilemma. I didn't get the dishes put away and I couldn't move off the floor. I sat there for a couple of hours until the kids came home from school. My oldest directed me to go back to bed. I crawled back to bed. That was how I learned If I don't mind, it doesn't matter.
Took me many more years to realize someone else rarely knows exactly what is going on inside of me or anyone else. We get glimpses of each others stories but rarely the whole thing. My counselor spent 7 years talking to me. He knew me better than I knew myself in some ways. However, I could still surprise him with my own twisted perspective and how I look at the World. He told me that which does not kill me makes me stronger. I wanted to smack him. He sat across the room from me out of reach, with good reason. I felt like what happened to me broke me. Recently I found a quote that I like much better, "That which does not kill me, gives me some strange coping skills and a very dark sense of humor." I share what I experienced in the hope to help someone else sitting on a kitchen floor wondering, "How am I ever going to get the dishes done?" No one really knows each person's struggle but each person gets to decide whether that matters or not.
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