Perspective

28TH JANUARY 2022 - ASU #315

In last week’s All Stitched Up! we found ourselves at the starting line of 2022.

Whilst our resolve to change the way we were approaching the year before us remained, if we’re honest, we hit the ground running pretty hard. The allure of the blank page, fresh start and all the possibilities before us saw us working double time in some areas to catch up from the Christmas and New Year break and ensure all our ducks were in a row for what 2022 has in store.

Then suddenly, an unexpected event changed our perspective.

An extended family member of one of the Inspirations’ team lost both her parents in less than 48 hours of each other. Whilst the death of her Dad was somewhat expected, it would seem her healthy, active, planning-for-the-future Mum died in her sleep of a broken heart just 36 hours later which was anything but expected.

And do you know what? When the team member received the call of what had unfolded, they found a way to drop the tasks that had seemed all but impossible not to complete just hours earlier to be at the side of their heartbroken family.

It turns out when they returned to the office, the meetings they’d missed had been rescheduled, the emails were still there waiting for a response and the paperwork they’d abandoned waited another day to be completed. What seemed impossible to forgo at the outset of the day, gave way to what needed to be held tight that day – family and relationship.

We found ourselves wondering why it can take an event of such magnitude to put things into perspective. We guess it’s because it’s all too easy to take life for granted as we put the seemingly urgent before the important, always assuming there’ll be another day to focus on what really matters.

But now we’re approaching the year before us a little differently. Sure, we’ll attend the meetings, respond to the emails, complete the paperwork and declutter the cupboard that we can’t quite shut the door to anymore, but in the process, we’ll ensure we hold tight those we love, keep the big things the big things and not sweat the small stuff because now, more than ever before, we’re so very aware that life as we know it can change in an instant.