Which Came First? The Full Moon, The Deck, or The Perspective? 🐣

☕️ Before you read this...

This blog may or may not be about a deck. 😆

I don't know how many times I've started and stopped this blog this week.

A few.

Maybe more than a few.

Every time I sat down to write, it seemed to spin a different direction.

One minute I thought I was writing about the Full Moon.

Then I thought I was writing about the Wheel of Fortune card that showed up during a reading and refused to leave me alone.

Then I was playing Mahjong on my phone, and it decided to get involved by throwing this little gem at me:

"Things could have gone either way. It was the choices you made."

That one stuck.

Not because it was profound.

Because it was true.

So, I sat with it.

Then I sat with it some more.

And instead of writing, I just went outside.

Today, though I started with a plan.

You know... one of those plans where you've already decided exactly how you're going to do something.

Then life throws a little cog into the wheel.

Now normally that's where people stop.

Or get frustrated.

Or start running every possible scenario through their head.

I stood there for a minute and thought:

"Well... I can still do this. Just differently."

So, I turned on some music and started cleaning the deck.

Not because I had some grand spiritual realization.

Because it needed cleaning.

As I got going, something funny happened.

The more gunk I cleaned off, the more I started noticing.

The mildew.

The dirt.

The moss.

The places I'd stopped seeing because they'd been there so long, they just became part of the scenery.

Then I found some critters.

And spider eggs.

No thank you.

Those can move right along. 😂

Then I started noticing some boards that need attention.

Nothing too dramatic.

I haven't fallen through the porch yet. 😆

But I could see them now.

Funny how that works.

You clear away one thing and suddenly you can see the next thing.

Then the next thing.

Then the next thing.

The problem wasn't that I didn't know those boards were there.

I did.

Sort of.

I just hadn't looked at them in a while.

Because life gets busy.

Because other things seem more important.

Because sometimes you walk past something so many times it becomes part of the background.

Until one day it doesn't.

By the time I got to the end of the deck, I started noticing other things too.

A better place for this chair.

A better place for that table.

More sunlight over here.

More airflow over there.

A little less covering things up and a little more letting things breathe.

The deck wasn't perfect.

Still isn't.

But it looked really damn good!

And sitting out there afterward, looking at everything, I started wondering...

You know that old question:

Which came first? The chicken or the egg? 🐣

Well now I had a different question.

Which came first? The deck or the perspective?

Did cleaning the deck change my perspective?

Or did changing my perspective allow me to clean the deck?

Hell, if I know. 😆

All I know is by the end of the day they both looked a whole lot better.

Maybe that's how it works sometimes.

You clean one thing and another thing clears up too.

You move one piece and suddenly you can see three more.

You start somewhere and the next step reveals itself.

Not because you had some master plan.

Because you started.

And that's when I started laughing.

Because all week it felt like the same lesson kept showing up but wearing different clothes.

First, it was the Wheel of Fortune card.

Then it was a game of Mahjong.

Then the Full Moon.

Three completely different things.

Same conversation.

Different language.

And there I am standing on a deck covered in dirt, mildew, moss, spider eggs, and who knows what else, wondering why life keeps repeating the same lesson from different directions.

The thing is, no matter what we go through, there's usually more than one way through it.

Around it.

Over it.

Under it.

Sideways if you have to.

You don't always need a perfect plan.

Sometimes you just need to start moving.

That's what the wheel does.

It moves.

Maybe that's why that Mahjong quote stuck with me.

Read it again…

"Things could have gone either way. It was the choices you made."

Because at some point you have to stop standing there staring at the wheel and jump on.

Not because you know exactly where it's going.

Because standing still isn't getting you there either.

The funny part?

As I was cleaning, I kept thinking about perspective.

I see things one way.

Somebody else might see the exact same thing completely differently.

Does that make either person wrong?

Not necessarily.

Irritating sometimes?

Absolutely. 😂

But you can't control how somebody else sees the world.

You can't control the lens they're looking through.

You can only control how much dirt is sitting on your own.

And maybe that's what I was really doing all afternoon.

Not cleaning a deck.

Cleaning a lens.

A little dirt off here.

A little moss off there.

A little mildew scrubbed away.

And suddenly things that looked complicated started looking simpler.

Not easy.

Just clearer.

The soft boards were still there.

The repairs still need to happen.

The work didn't disappear.

I could just finally see it.

Maybe that's why I've started and stopped this blog so many times this week.

I wasn't waiting for the right words.

I was waiting for the lens to clear.

And once it did, the answer wasn't nearly as complicated as I thought.

People will see things differently than you do.

And that's okay.

The goal isn't controlling their lens.

The goal is occasionally cleaning your own.

Because once you do, you might be surprised by what you can see.

Or what you've been missing.

Or what has been sitting right in front of you the whole damn time.

And if you're sitting there thinking this whole blog isn't really about a deck...

Bingo!

Look, you're paying attention. 😉

After spending all week thinking about that Wheel of Fortune Card, I realized something.

I didn't need somebody else to take the wheel.

I didn't need to know where it was going to land.

I just needed to trust that if I kept showing up and doing the work in front of me, eventually I'd see where the road was going.

And maybe that's the point.

Not controlling the wheel.

Not predicting the wheel.

Just being willing to jump on and let it turn.

Because more often than not, the thing you're looking for isn't waiting at the end of the road.

It's what you discover while you're traveling it.

And after all that?

I realized I had the wheel the whole damn time.

😆

🎁 Before I go...

The winner of this month's free reading giveaway will be selected tonight.

If that's you, check your email and make sure to peek in your spam or junk folder just in case.

I'll be reaching out shortly.

And thank you to everyone who reads these porch thoughts, follows along, hangs out with me each week, and reminds me that sometimes the best lessons show up when you're just trying to clean a damn deck. 😆

Until next time...

Keep your lens clean.

And don't be afraid to jump on the wheel.

🎡☕️🖤

~ Kristi-Gypsy ✨

P.S. If I've learned anything this week, it's that you can absolutely lose perspective while writing a blog about perspective. 😆

At some point you just have to hit publish and let the wheel spin.

And yes... before I lose perspective on the whole damn thing again.

Now I'm hitting publish

😆🐣🎡☕️

Kristi ~