Taking my own advice for when it rains

In preparing for the move to our new house, I'd heard stories (and previously experienced) the horrors of moving. The phrase that everyone repeated in the context of moving was, "When it rains it pours."

And I started out seeing our moving situation this way. 

The week before we'd planned on moving out of our apartment, our landlord brought in a handyman to investigate water damage from Atlanta's recent storms. What he discovered was far more than water damage. The main problem was that the house's foundation was completely rotted through. As the handyman walked through our apartment, he jokingly stepped on some creaky parts of the floor and said, "I hope you don't step too hard in these places!" Well, that was the area where I used to jump around doing workout DVDs and P90X... oops. 

As a result, our living room carpet was rolled away and the crawl space was dug out so the foundation could be repaired. Unfortunately, this construction left our apartment open to all of the elements, including dirt, 90 degree weather, and an infestation of bugs. 

The hole underneath the carpet in our apartment to the crawl space

Our plan to wait until the weekend to move quickly went by the wayside. In a mad dash, John and I moved out all of our clothes and had a friend help move our mattresses out. To avoid being eaten alive by fleas, we stayed at our friend's house for the night. At this point, I was about to take on the perspective that "when it rains, it pours."

Instead, John continued to remind me that we were fortunate to have a house to move our belongings into. Thankfully, this ordeal didn't happen a month or two ago. So as a result, I started taking my own advice to view everyday choices and experiences as opportunities to see blessings. 

And blessing upon blessing I saw! 

To name a few, we have wonderful friends who offered us places to stay; we have a new home to move into; John's mom was able to come down at the perfect time and brave the bugs to help me box everything up and move into the new house; I have a flexible job schedule that allowed me to take the time to move; though it was HOT and humid, it didn't rain during the week of moving; we had a move crew of friends to move out all of our furniture on Saturday; and my parents are coming up this week to visit and help me get settled.

We "bribed" friends to help us move with the promise of Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits... apparently it worked!

It's amazing what a change of perspective will do, and how a stressful week can turn into a week of blessings. I also encourage you to find a "positive partner," someone who can keep reminding you to keep your eye on the positives. This isn't to minimize setbacks and struggles, but to help you see the long view.