This past weekend, I was able to come home and spend some time with my family while shopping in good old Tallahassee (you can imagine my dad’s excitement for this adventure), and it definitely did not disappoint. My mom and I were on the hunt for outfits for our upcoming Nashville trip. We went through a few stores before walking into Windsor, which is a dressier store, with several options of dresses from western style to full-out prom. In the western section, she found a cute little dress that I wanted to give a shot, even though it wasn’t normally something I would wear. Well, trying on that dress turned into a 20-minute endeavor, as it took a while for me to get in it and even longer for me to get out of it. It didn’t take long for me to call in backup, as I quickly realized it would not be something that I could get into by myself. Once we got it on, Mom had to tie up the back so we could get a good look at it. We ended up deciding that it wasn’t for me, even though it was a beautiful dress, and fought tooth and nail to get it back off of me. I’m sure the people in the dressing rooms around us thought we had racks of dresses being tried on, when in reality, it just took an immense amount of time (and one idea to get the fire department involved) to get me out of that dress.
As hilarious as that story is, there was a moment there where I really felt stuck in that dress, even with the help of my mom. There was no way I would have even gotten in that dress without asking for her help to begin with, and even less of a chance of getting it off on my own. That being said, we fought to get out of that dress, and honestly out of that dressing room entirely, and although it may have taken a while, we got through it and came out the other side, laughing our butts off. I’m sure you can tell where this scenario is going in comparison to our lives. There are a lot of situations where we may feel just as stuck, metaphorically, as I was in that dress. Even with support, we may feel like we aren’t going anywhere. That’s where the continuous patience and determination comes in, which are hard characteristics to keep up all the time. Once you have established that you feel as if you aren’t moving in life, shift your focus to maintaining that patience and determination, as well as your focus on the goals that you have set for yourself. Eventually, you will get out of that situation and move forward, just as I was finally freed from that dress.