barbara von holzen
one day in may a frog befriended me
Life is a constant journey. Life is challenging for various reasons. Yes, even a little too challenging at times. You develop your own coping mechanisms. Maybe you withdraw to a favourite corner with a book, do sports or enjoy nature.
I did the latter. And this is when a frog befriended me down by the pond. Seeking peace and quiet, I had been meandering before I was drawn to a croaking sound. Initially, the originator was not visible. I, on the other hand, decided for some reason to wait and watch. Wait to see him. And yet…he was observing me. He decided to carefully approach me with a gentle kick and glide. Eagle-eyeing me. Reading my mind. In the end, he was so close I could have touched him, which of course threw my fairytale heart into slight turmoil.
One magic moment indeed. A spark in the depths and the dark of the seemingly muddy pond. One of the things you come upon unexpectedly. Just like when you find places when you don’t seek them; people when you don’t expect to meet, mingle or even fall in love with them.
It is natural to search for support when life is a little ‘unrhymed’. Interesting to see who is there for you when things go particularly wrong. Lucky if you have friends, family and loved ones to talk to and find comfort in, while being true and yourself; to snuggle into their arms, albeit ‘abacterially’ via virtual communication. And with a little bit of luck, you are loved for who thou art.
I suppose a crisis is not solely bad or one-dimensional. A crisis, so the ancient Greeks say, is a new beginning. Listen to your heart and trust your gut instinct to ride it out. Let go of the things that weigh you down. By all means, take responsibility for your life. Do not blame others for it.
I’ll never know whether this warty creature truly befriended me on that sunny day in May. From my perspective, he did. Beauty, just like happiness, lies within and you don’t know until you know, which is when you have experienced it.
Therefore, I have declared the pond a worry-free zone, an in-between-world. A la-la lockdown land, forcing ‘laid-backability’. Forcing me to think outside the box.
Life is a constant journey. So far it is the lesson I have learnt, travelling between body and mind, reality and fantasy. Between two worlds, hopes, worries and joys, and sometimes caught in the cobweb of my own trains of thought.
Think, do, feel – is it all real?
Life is change, inevitably, and in every change resides a chance. You don’t need to be pretty, balanced, joyous, successful, smart; don’t need to function flawlessly, be efficient or mainstream at every or any time. It is perfectly fine to simply be you. Stay positive and embrace those changes and chances.
