The Universe Cleared My Schedule
Recently, it occurred to me that I had so much more space in my days. Almost too much.
I found myself wondering what I might do with it. Should I volunteer? Find a part-time job? Finally organize that drawer everyone has in their house? (You know the one.)
Then a friend came to visit from out of town, and as we caught up on life, I suddenly realized where all that space had come from.
Since my stepmom moved into memory care in early May, and after I finished the long process of preparing and selling her house, an enormous chapter had quietly come to a close. The appointments, decisions, phone calls, paperwork, repairs, and the constant mental tab that was always open had slowly fallen away.
I hadn’t noticed it happening.
It wasn’t until months later that I looked up and saw a clear vista of time stretching out before me.
Isn’t it interesting how often life works that way?
We don’t always recognize change while we’re living it. Sometimes we’re so busy adapting that we don’t notice we’ve already crossed into a new season. Little by little, we recalibrate. What once felt extraordinary becomes ordinary. What once consumed our days quietly disappears, and before long, our new normal simply feels…normal.
Only when we pause do we realize just how different life has become.
Those moments can feel both exhilarating and a little unsettling. Wide-open spaces invite possibility, but they also seem to whisper, “Well…what are you going to do with me?”
Before long, our minds are happily making lists, proposing projects, and convincing us that every open square on the calendar is crying out to be filled.
But perhaps not every empty space is meant to be filled immediately.
Perhaps some are invitations.
Invitations to breathe a little deeper. To notice what has shifted within us. To savor the spaciousness before covering it up with busyness. To let ourselves become familiar with this new landscape before deciding where to build.
Nature doesn’t rush from one season into the next. There is always a period of transition—a quiet unfolding.
Maybe we’re meant to honor those transitions, too.
When life unexpectedly opens a new vista, perhaps our first job isn’t to map out the next adventure.
Perhaps it’s simply to stand there for a while, breathe in the view, and trust that when the time is right, the universe will gently reveal the path forward.
With love and resonance,
