Events That Call For Change

The universe takes and gives everything you didn’t know you needed. These prompts are an invitation to step inside yourself and explore what balance means to you. Rupi Kaur

If I could make change all day I wouldn't and this prompt isn't only about change as in the photo above. My cash, not so much. I very seldom carry cash. And it would take quite a bit of coin to make the amount of money needed to pay monthly bills.

Balance with cash is really about being able to support myself. To buy what is necessary and a bit extra. Right now I have baby gifts in my car for two upcoming baby showers. I hit a few sales.

Some people expect to leave money or property to their children. Mine don't expect that from me, they take very good care of themselves and their children and I don't have it to give.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - A turning point that made me realize my lifestyle was no longer sustainable was __________.

When I was 24, my one-month-old baby stopped breathing. My husband and I were smoking marijuana and we passed him back and forth not knowing what to do. We moved outside in shock as our baby was turning blue.

The neighbor heard us and said, "Run him to the hospital." We lived almost a block from the hospital at the time. When I got him there he had started to breathe again, but when he was in with the doctor he stopped again.

So it was important for me to stop smoking pot that day and my son is now 46. That was a turning point for me that told me my lifestyle would not work if I wanted a better life for our children and our son to live.

I had been a 2-3 pack-a-day cigarette smoker and I stopped that when I got pregnant. My pregnancy was miserable and still, I never regretted quitting smoking cigarettes or pot. It turned out that our son was allergic to smoke, but we didn't know that until he was two years old.

His father never quit smoking. He would stop drinking alcohol but never stop for long as he said he couldn't quit smoking pot, and the marijuana would get him back to drinking. He went to treatment 5 times while we were married. He remarried and died from his addiction.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - Does change make you feel excited or uneasy? Why?

Change has always come with a feeling of unease. When I get used to the way things are, I have trouble with change. Retiring should have been exciting but instead, there was unease. My husband retired first. And four years later I retired.

He has always kept busy. No more working for others, and still busy. With retirement, we moved north and out of the big city.

When he retired, I took another job. Less money. Less responsibility. I thought that would prepare me for not working. In the year before retirement, I put 50,000 miles on my vehicle. I think maybe I lived in my car.

An end to that position was okay with me.

We live in a small community, in farm country. I made a joke once that my husband moved me to live with the swamp people. Where there isn't a farm, there is a swamp.

A woman who heard me was not happy about that as she returned with a response saying, "I am one of those swamp people!"

Getting to know people, places, and things in my new environment has always been tough. When I retired I couldn't imagine not working. I continue to work part-time and I have adjusted to part-time.

Then I read and write, declutter, work on hobbies, and spend time with friends and family. In my first year of retirement, I made an effort to not work. I attended a retreat in Mazatlan Mexico and did other fun stuff that year. That helped me with the change.

Rupi Kaur's Balance Writing Prompts - I take pride in the way I ___________.

Live my life in recovery, spend time with family and friends, do the next right thing, and spend time and energy writing. I am happy with living in the present, having a spiritual life of listening and talking (Prayer and meditation) to Creator/God.

I love what I do and do what I love!