A few weeks ago, I was awakened by the sounds of construction equipment. Now, unlike my 8 year old son, Max, I am not a huge fan of construction. I always feel like the noise is intrusive and annoying. The moving of earth and rocks offends me. I find myself becoming protective and territorial when I see the landscape being altered. So, my reaction to a backhoe (or whatever it is called) in the vacant lot adjoining our property was not pretty. Plus, I hadn't had any coffee yet - it wasn't even 7am. Who on earth would wage war on the land before 7am??? No doubt, there was something sinister going on.
I was in full warrior mode by 7:30am. My heart was racing, my body temperature rising, and I was on a mission to save the world, or at least our stream! It turns out that the "work" was being done on the natural stream that runs through our yard and then continues through the vacant lot.
We LOVE our stream. Originally, it was just a (poor) substitute for Horsehead Bay, where we used to live. I was known to say, sadly, "Well, at least we still have some water to look at." But the stream has become our pride and joy. It runs year round, houses crayfish (OK, we have actually only found one), and changes by the day. Sometimes it looks like a flash flood zone and other times it gently trickles, but it is always there! And there is something absolutely amazing about running water.
So, with some direction from my brother--in-law (a surveyor and environmental enthusiast) I grabbed my clipboard (a woman should always have a clipboard - it works well as both a shield and note-taking device). I piled the kids in the car and drove down to the lot. Long story short, I confronted the workers demanded to see a permit, threatened to call the sheriff, discovered our neighbors were the culprits and ended up walking away more confused then I arrived. Now what?
I spent the day anxious, stressed and physically sick. I was deeply troubled by the injustice of it all. I was angry that the neighbors had not consulted the Dept. of Ecology or at the very least, us. I was, what you could call, WORKED UP.
Being angry is WORK. A lot of work. It can sometimes propel you to take action (when harnessed) and sometimes it can paralyze you. I made some calls, but mostly I was seething. For days I could not release my anger.
Then, a week after I called the Dept. of Ecology my husband noticed a sign on the property, but we could not tell what it said. I, of course, had to get in my car and drive down there. I didn't bring the clipboard this time. There, staring at me from a small wooden stake was a pink piece of paper that said "STOP WORK NOW NOTICE." As I drove home I realized that the sign was for me. After all, the work on clearing out the tiny stream and building a HUGE rock wall alongside it, had been completed several days earlier. Even after the last boulder was placed and the sad layer of hay was sprinkled over the scarred ground I was still WORKED UP.
The Stop Work Notice was a message for me. It was like someone was saying to me, "OK, enough now. You don't have to work on this anymore. You can let it go." Only then did I realize that I could have consolidated all my "work" just like they did with the "stream remodel." The amount of time you hold onto something doesn't determine its importance to you, it only determines how much the issue is controlling YOU.
So... what issues do you have that need a STOP WORK NOW notice? Are you taking action to make changes or just getting WORKED UP? When you have taken the action you need to take, you have been given a STOP WORK NOW notice. You can release it. I (almost) have!
