Navigating a Remodel  

“When it comes to handling change, it isn’t curiosity that kills the cat. Curiosity is

 her saving grace!”

              I had thought I’d require some very specific skill sets to complete the remodel of the upstairs bath: basic carpentry, certainly, plastering experience would be helpful, knowledge of electrical wiring would be a must, painting an absolute, and even a basic familiarity with plumbing might be needed. What I hadn’t realize going into this particular “weekend project” was that it would require a far more fundamental set of life skills. I would need to draw on reserves I hadn’t known I possessed, and I am proud to say that I was not found wanting.

              I began to get an inkling of what I was in for a mere hour into the project.  All of the fixtures, towels, decorations, and toiletry items had to be removed from the bath, so of course they found their new home in the adjacent master bedroom. A few of them even overflowed onto the desk in my home office. As a matter of fact, the bathroom’s resident goldfish still watches to my right as I type.  Anyway, none of this was initially a worry. “It’s only temporary” was our theme song. Soon the molding followed the rest of the odds and ends, a piece of dry wall which had been removed from above the shower found its way in . . . the list went on. 

              As the bedroom gradually became buried beneath its temporary visitors, the next stage of demolition began. Dry wall down. New holes created for wiring. Ah, the orbital sander! It kicked up a Sahara of dust which coated the contents of both the bedroom and bath in a consistent muddy brown.  Making one’s way through the demolition zone began to become treacherous.  Navigating one’s way through during a nighttime trip to the bathroom?

I dreaded to think what might happen.

              I started to get a clue as to some of the implications of this project, particularly as to how it might impact our mental health, when one of the children began crying, “Daddy, why did you do this to the bathroom? I want it back the way it was.” Little did she know that we had cleaned up the place before bath time! Had she been by an hour earlier, she’d have turned tail, wailing.

              So, there I sat in my oasis of an unclaimed corner of the bed, listening to these laments emerging from the bathroom, when Bonny Doon, the cat, wandered in.  Oh, her first reaction was surprise, I’ll admit it, but her second response was to jump directly in and investigate! She poked her head under piles of discarded molding, left paw prints in the sawdust, checked to find which towels might make the most comfortable bed, and finally found her way to my lap where she clearly purred out her message: “Interesting. I think I like it.” Bonny Doon could handle upheaval! Bonny Doon could thrive in the midst of change! Bonny Doon had the gift of curiosity and it served her well.

              Given Bonny Doon’s response to the chaos, I stretched my vision a bit farther, wondering if there were other animals or plants that handled change better than us humans. Bingo! I looked out the window. Nature was sending me an email that I couldn’t help but pay attention to: she thrives on change! In fact, change is her very meat and drink. 

              So, when the question was posed, “What if we redo the counter top? We might as well do it now, while the rest of the room is in pieces. . . ” I shrugged my shoulders in a relaxed sort of agreement. “Sure. Whatever. Put the old one in my office for a week or two.” I could get used to the chaos. I think Bonny Doon is right.

Reflection questions: We have a choice when faced with change, even desirable changes that we have chosen ourselves: we can dig in our heels and resist, we can take flight, or we can learn to flow.  The oldest part of the human brain, the basic or reptilian brain, is the great pattern keeper.  It likes routine and resists that which upsets a known habit or pattern.  But we human beings are amazingly resilient, and can make alternative choices.  My choice is to flow rather than resist, and to embrace the chaos of the moment, knowing that out of the chaos will be birthed a new order of beauty.  The route for me is curiosity.  What is happening here?  What will emerge? 

Where could you use more curiosity in your life? Where are you resisting change? How might you work through that resistance using your imagination, your curiosity?