32. On Second Thought

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases and words. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. The background music is called Town Market by Blue Dot. Today, On Second Thought More surprises. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on life, something changes. Maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way. Oh, God, a pandemic! Oh God, another one. Someone changed their mind, they don’t want to get married, they called the whole thing off, leaving the other at the altar, making space for a big change. It could be construed as an untold story, a broken heart. On second thought, it could be a welcome change. Good riddance, I always say. Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you back?  Our gut or intuition can alert us to things that we should be considering or noticing. For instance, don’t go down that dark ally, don’t run with scissors or talk to the big bad wolf, and under no circumstance drink coffee after 4 pm. Maybe that one is plain common sense. Just when you thought you got life you get a reminder you don’t. Expecting the unexpected is all you can expect. That phrase is not only t-shirt worthy, I got it off a t-shirt when I was 13. It became my mantra for many years, then I watched Dead Poets Society and Carpe Diem became my favorite, until I heard: In Omnia Paratus, meaning, ready for anything. We can count on change. Perhaps someone had a change of heart and stepped down allowing for the energy to shift. A new candidate brings renewed hope. The candidate might have realized that it is in the best interest of the country to step down. This is a move for the greater good. That couldn’t have been easy. The greater the good the harder the personal sacrifice.  We know things can and will change, even if we preferred they didn’t.  We are allowed to change our minds. You might be walking down the street on your way to a movie when you realize you are hungry. You start craving a deli sandwich, maybe roast beef, dijon mustard and pickles on a kaiser roll. You take a necessary detour. Changing your mind, changing your plans is a-okay. You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and you may ask yourself, -How did I get here? The Talking Heads ask that question and answer: letting the days go by, let the water hold me down. The thing is, even if you let inertia get the best of you, you are making a decision. Inertia isn’t a good reason to sacrifice your happiness. That is, if the beautiful house and beautiful wife don’t do it for you. If you give something a second thought you might realize you have changed your mind. You might need to hit the reset button. You might even consider a hard reset. That rarely guarantees a do over. These are two different things. Generally speaking, you get one shot, hopefully you do the best you can with the opportunities you get. If things don’t go your way, take a page from Taylor Swift and shake it off.  You might be on your way to becoming an engineer! You might walk in the door to your first class and say, on second thought I think I like literature better. And walk out. It is best not to force situations that don’t feel right. Some people change their wardrobe every season. They apply the Out with the old, in with the new philosophy. I think that it might be a little wasteful, but who am I to criticize that? Start ever