When One Door Closes...

"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door."

~ Emily Dickinson

Opportunity: When the Universe Holds the Door Open for You

Sometimes you don't realize that the Universe is listening. You say things like, "Ugh. I can't wait till I don't have to do this anymore" or "This is killing me" or "One day when I'm not in this situation I'll do what I really want to do"...but you don't make the move yourself.

And then The Universe hands you an opportunity. A door gets closed right in your face. You're shocked. "How did this happen?" you ask. "What am I going to do now? How will I survive?" You feel scared and unstable. You are anxious about what the future holds. It's unknown. So many possible negative future scenarios come into view.

(How do I know this? Well, because I've got a PhD in Catastrophic Thinking!)

But, guess what? When the Universe closes a door, it's actually the Universe opening a door. We can look at those moments as endings or we can look at them as beginnings. We can take a moment to envision an incredibly abundant and fulfilling future or we can get lost in the murky depths of negative thinking.

Last year, my part-time gig writing middle school curriculum dried up rather abruptly. I'd been depending on it for half of my income since moving out of my 30 year marriage, six days before the shelter-in-place started in 2020 and my studio went dark. It was work I enjoyed but also, it kept me from devoting myself fully to the work I most love: holding sacred space for my clients to go into their shadows and transform and heal their stories with the gold that is creativity!

I'd been saying to the Universe all those things above like, "I can't wait until I don't have to do this anymore and can give 100% of my attention to creativity coaching" but I didn't think that was going to be any time soon.

I panicked momentarily when the curriculum gig dried up but then I put nose to the grindstone. I used the open space on my calendar to develop my exceptionally powerful grief program, The Geography of Grief. I used my time to hold more discovery calls. And I started signing on new one-on-one transformational creativity coaching clients.

Today, a year later, my creativity coaching and deep dive programs are supporting me 100%. By focusing on what I wanted to bring into my life I actually turned it all around. I now get to devote myself to what brings me the ultimate joy: knowing that my work is meaningful, healing, and needed in my clients' lives.

That door closing in my life was in fact a "door opening" invitation from the Universe.

And I'm so glad that I focused on, "I can do this," rather than, "How will I possibly survive?"

I believed in myself and the Universe.

Sure, catastrophic thinking took up a bit of my mind for a while, but the truth is that the other side of that threshold can hold so many possibilities and so many opportunities! And I kept moving forward with the vision of them!

I'm grateful for that opportunity and that moment when I looked up to see the Universe holding open a door for me, giving me a look with one eyebrow raised as if to say, "Here's your chance. Are you gonna join me in your amazing and brilliant future or what?"

What's a time a door closed in your life that led to another door opening? Send me an email or comment below and share your story with me!

Having some thoughts or feelings about this? Pull out your art journal and let your creative process work it out!