We have been refreshing the Border Agency website for weeks to book an appointment slot for my biometrics. For those who have experience with the UK situation, you will know the time, tediousness and expense that comes with the applications. As I was talking to my boss about this, he just mentioned, today you may be able to get on. I decided to do so. I got in! However, the paper with the ID required was left at home. Ying rushed home and managed to book the appointment.
Friday came and we had planned to leave early and get there with 50 mins to spare as we were told to arrive 30 mins before the stipulated time. We arrived at the station to find that the train we wanted to take was cancelled. We spoke to the assistant and he directed us to the Overground service which needed an interchange. We ran so hard and we barely made it. After 5 minutes on board, the driver announced that there was a signal failure and that we were to remain there until he had further instructions which was indefinite. We sat there for 10 mins and decided to run for a bus. We ran again and missed the bus with the shorter route and there was not another one scheduled to arrive in the foreseeable future. We caught another bus. The driver happened to be really slow and we seemed to hit every red light and roadwork in London. There seemed to be people getting on and off at every single stop.
We looked at the map and the stop seemed directly opposite the Border Agency. It ended up being past the Agency and behind 2 buildings in the opposite direction. We got off and started running as hard as we could. I could feel my legs and lungs giving way as dramatic as it sounds. We ran across the big road and tramlines as there was no pedestrian crossing in the vicinity as far as the eye can see.
I got there breathless and unable to speak. I just waved the appointment sheet at the guard and I made it through with only 5 mins to the stipulated time.
It's so easy sometimes to look at everything as a series of unfortunate events. Through various experiences, I have come to see stressful situations increasingly as opportunities to learn and put good principles to practice.
It is more than just adopting a positive attitude. In stressful situations, I realise that if you try to force calmness from the outside in, it probably will not stave the stress off for long periods of time. Also, this would probably mean that you fight fire and as a result, you would probably not be the type of person who would be recognise, be thankful and celebrate the good when it happens.
Normally when 'things go our way', we walk on without so much as a blink. Needless to say, stress is essentially what we feel when 'things are not under our control'. Trusting in ourselves as the only beings who can pull off the job/ make it/ do it right is really a heavy burden to bear. The struggle begins when you want to do away with the burden but do not feel secure enough to give it away/ have no one to give it away to. Burdens have a funny nature. They cannot disappear into thin air. They need to be offloaded- through a series of positive actions.
After I realised that stress comes because I can't control circumstances but want to, I knew that looking inward was not a solution. Sure, one could make oneself be positive but I for one, know I can't count on myself to be endlessly perceptive and receptive to life's curveballs. No, there's a more perfect Being I can count on.
Looking back on it now, the graph of circumstances does not descend nor ascend. It curves. It would have been so easy to question WHY, grumble, SIGH, whine, COMPLAIN, be frustrated, IRRITATED, angry, WORRIED at the lower curves of things forgetting when the graph swings upwards. There is an additional unseen line above this which is constant and never-changing no matter how squiggly the line below gets. He is the Only one that can make our paths straight when we trust in Him and lean not on our own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5-6
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