Stories For When You’re Ready

Sometimes, we aren't ready to hear about the power of showing up or moving forward. Talk of the bright side can be enough to push us further into our tunnel. Turns out, that's ok.

Hey, friends, this is Cherese Lee and you're listening to the Just Waiting for You podcast. Whether the sun is shining where you are in life today or you're walking through a crappy storm and you really wish you got some rain boots. The power of a story is sometimes all you need for that perspective shift. Hang out with us for a few minutes and find out what happens when you realize that someone is just waiting for you.

It's a story. It's just a story. I was having dinner with the family and my phone rang, and as soon as I looked down and saw that it was my dad, I had a feeling what it would be. Mom and Dad had been for her follow-up visit at Duke Cancer Center that day. And even though we knew what they were probably going to say, it still was really hard to hear him say it.

So, I left the table and walked back to my room to chat with him, and he said exactly what I expected. The treatments weren't going to work. It was terminal and they were just going to start looking at ways to get her comfortable. The conversation was pretty quick. There wasn't much left to say, but I couldn't leave my room.

I just kind of felt frozen. The lights were off. The sun was setting. So, it was just that weird kind of last flickers of light coming through the window. And I found myself pacing and eventually making it into my closet. Next thing I know, I'm sitting in the floor of the closet, sobbing. Just that uncontrollable, can't breathe, sobbing.

I didn't want to be alone, but I also didn't want to go out there with my kids and have to say it all out loud. So, I texted my person, I know everybody's got a person, right? So, I texted my angel - Angel. And I said, “It's terminal. I'm in my closet sobbing. And I can't - I can't get out.”

“I don't know what to do. I can't leave my closet.” And she texted me back and she said, “you know what? That's okay. You probably should stay in there because closets are a really safe place to be in a storm. And you should probably just sit tight and let the storm pass a little bit and then when it's safe, come out”.

“And when you come outside, we will all be here waiting for you. Everyone. You're not going to do this by yourself. It's going to suck. Yeah, it's awful, but it's not yours alone. So, you sit tight, sit in it. But then, when it's time to get up and it will be time, come find us. Let us walk this with you”.

I don't know if you're an Enneagram person, but if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm an Enneagram seven. Listen, we don't do hard. We don't do sad. We avoid that like the plague. So, for someone to tell me that I actually could (maybe should) sit in it was just a novel idea. And even more so that it was okay to sit in it for a while. You guys, it was the permission I didn't know I needed.

You know, a lot of times in life, I have been told that I wear rose-colored glasses. That, “oh, it's easy for you to say that Cherese. You know, everything's so great in your life and you just always see the positive”. I've even been criticized for that, right?

Because maybe I don't live in the real world I've been told. I just don't see the truth. But actually, it's quite the opposite. I've sat in some closets. I've sat through some storms. And I truly believe that, yeah, it's important to sit in there and to feel the feels. But it's also important to know that there's something to stand up for.

To start walking outside for. That's what gets us to the next step. Right? And so, I'm glad you're here. I hope you'll stay with us on this journey. But what I want you to know is that if you're in a crappy situation, if you're at the bottom of a pothole, if you're sitting in your metaphorical closet right now and you're not ready to hear what some might call the bright side or maybe the purpose in it all just yet.

That's okay. That's all right. These are stories for when you're ready and we'll be here. You sit there as long as you need to sit there. And it's important to sit there. Right. But you got to know that there's something waiting for you and what's waiting for you are these stories to remind you that, yeah, it kind of looks and feels like crap right now.

But what if. What if it could look like this? Maybe this isn't a bad life. Maybe it's just a really human one. And there's a lot of humans waiting for me to walk with them, for them, and to watch me walk for me.

Thanks for joining us. I hope you allow yourself to feel the things today and then have the courage to ask, “But what if it looks like this?”

Go forth and show up for life, my friends. Someone is just waiting for you.