The Push And Pull Of Life

Simone Wellington sat listening to her older sister Cleona, who was complaining and crying. "Why is my life like this? I should have married Brian Coswell? I would be bathing in money. I shouldn't have done that? I wished I did this. It's my parents' fault. They should have done more for me. It's my teacher's fault; they didn't understand me. It's the world's fault; it wasn't ready for me."

A river of regret flows from her heart, mind, soul, thoughts, and lips. Simone's silence halted her rantings, and she gawks at her sister with raised brows and confronts, "Don't you care! I am tearing my heart out, and you sit there silent as a pin dropping to the floor."

Gazing at her only sister, as the past pressed the replay button on the tape recorder of her life, numerous episodes flooded Simone's memory. Then she is reminded how dramatic Cleona was, as this was one of the many self-pity-attention-demanding shows she performs when life and humans don't give her her way. Tired of being her victim, Simone defends, "I love you, but the only thing that is coming from you are regrets. You live all of your life in the past, blaming someone else for your wrong choices, decisions, and actions."

"And your life is perfect?" Cleona blasts.

Nodding, Simone explains, "Right now, it's a pull and push. I am where I want to be. Regrets are trying to pull me back. But I won't allow it. Happiness, gratitude, and the right choices, actions, and decisions I make keep pushing me on."

"How did you get so smart?"

"It happened when I grew up and started appreciating life and showing gratitude for everything life shares with me. Good and bad," Simone explains, her eyes glaring into Cleona's. She continues, "I can't afford to go around blaming everyone for my blunders. If I do, I will learn nothing from them. Instead, I take responsibility, deal with my problems, learn my lessons with gratefulness to life and move on."

"It's not as easy as you think," Cleona insists, turning away.

"Of course it is," Simone persuades. "You are educated, smart, intelligent, not poor, but young and beautiful. Lots of opportunities are waiting at your hands and feet, and that's just what I scraped off the handle of your gold spoon."

"Why are you helping this wicked world to torture me?" Cleona blazed at her little sister.

"Our world has been pulling you all of your life, and you follow without questions. It has taken you to many unhappy places because you always leave."

"This is how you treat family," Cleona complains.

"Cleo," Simone said softly, taking her sister's hand from across the table, "I can't be our parents. I can't do for you the things Mom and Dad use to do. What you need, no one can give you. Only you can give yourself that."

Pulling her hands away, Cleona disputes, "And what do you think I need?"

Simone witness the pain in her sister’s eyes and paused for a moment; then she felt something inside her pushed, and she follows, saying, "To grow up and take control of your life and push it in the direction you want to go in. You will be thirty-two years old in ten days. Your age will no longer be on an almanac. Stop allowing life to control you and start controlling it."

Battling rage and the painful truth, she stared at her sister for a long time. Taking a deep breath, then pushing silence away, she queries, "How? How do I do that?"

"When life pulls you, push back. Use happiness and all of the good things in your life to push back the bad away. Positivity is a good tool to use to send all of the negative energy or vibes back where they came from."

Tears clouding her eyes, she looks at her sister in awe, then challenges, "It's that simple?"

Reaching out and hugging her sister. This time, Cleona didn't pull away. A minute later, easing from her embrace, Simone took a few pieces of Kleenex from her handbag nearby, wipe her sister's eyes, and consoles, "Yes, it is. You are the one in charge of your life. You decide who or what comes, goes, and stays. And that means everyone and everything."

Cleona smiles, taking the Kleenex from her sister's hand, wiping away all of the tears; she reveals, "You are right, little sister. My life is like a steering wheel; it can only go in the direction that I turn it. And I will take back control."

Life is a "push and pull." It does that daily for all of us. It will push us into many unhappy places. But you have the power to choose your direction. So when life pulls you in the wrong direction, push back. Take control of your life.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.