Nailing it
IYKYK - We can expect and rely on the fact that everything will NOT be perfect, most of the time.
And yet……
I’m about to draw quite a long bow with this analogy…….Anybody grow your own natural long nails? Have you noticed the patterns of your nail growth cycle to reveal a metaphor for life?
I know. It’s a bit weird - but hey I’m a bit weird and I’ll take my cosmic reminders and divine downloads anywhere I can get ‘em! And this week I had a whole mini-epiphany come through while I was painting my nails:
My natural nails are perfect right now! It only happens maybe 3 times a year. Perfection is fleeting. And so I try to enjoy it while it lasts 💅
Yet why, when I know perfection is so fleeting, do I expect myself to be it, most of the time. Seems silly.
Right now, all 10 nails are long, strong, and perfect, at the same time. Synchronicity!
Just like LIFE can at times feel like every single element is in perfect sync and it’s firing on all 10 cylinders — fully in the flow, aligned, effortless (long, strong & perfect) every aspect of life, in an upswing, all at the same time!! - yeah - exactly - that kinda stuff only happens maybe 3-4 times a year. Unicorns! These moments are definitely worth noticing and celebrating!
But if you know, you know… that first crack (in nails & life) is comin’!!
and for some reason it always starts with the same nail every time! — the exact way the first crack in life seems to happen - It’s usually about the same time I allow my self-care to unravel. I skip meditation. I drop off my ‘non-negotiable’ exercise routine.
Not long after that another nail breaks (maybe timed with a comment/argument that triggers in some way)
And then BAM — three nails go all at once; ie; a client falls through. A big surprise bill lands in our lap. A cold takes us out. Something breaks … It’s a hat trick of Murphy’s Law!
So what do you do? Well in those moments I know I get the shits and cut off all my other nails to match the short ones! Ha! Yep, I roll in the grenade.
Now my hands look like chewed up lil’ sausage nubs. And life appears to have returned to the daily grind of spinning EVERY plate, all at once. (but now with nubby little fingers)
The trajectory has moved around to the dark side of the moon once more.
And while we’re in darkness, these are the times when the stresses creep in. I start to chew my nubby nails. I start to eat a few more carbs. It all feels a little more ‘slumpy”.
But I know this pattern.
I also know it well enough to know that… the upswing is always coming back around again.
We are experienced enough to KNOW that our orbit always brings us back into the light. Eventually.
In 3–4 months my nails — and my life — will feel shiny, easy and in flow again.
….Just in time for the cycle to repeat again.
AND THAT’S OK!
So what did my fingernails remind me:
✨ Stay steady.
Don’t check out and celebrate too hard when things are good.
Don’t white-knuckle, stress-ball it out, when things are hard.
The pendulum consistently swings both ways - up and down and everything in between
It is the cycle of life.
It’s a rhythm, not a solid state.
Better to keep it steady & loose - grateful for all of it
Because neither states are ‘good’ nor ‘bad’. Better or worse. Up nor down.
It’s all just the orbit that a life takes.
Ride the wave… no need to let it toss us around inside the spaceship so much.
Nail wisdom. Who knew! 😂💅
Can you relate? Is there any seemingly mundane thing or act in your life that teaches you the most profound life lessons?
Reminds me of that beautiful William Blake poem -
To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour
