Blinders

Sometimes I find myself walking around like the saddest horse there ever was: Black Beauty. I walk heavy footed with blinders over my eyes, aware only of my own frustrations. But as soon as I take off my blinders and spend a few minutes adjusting to the new bright and unselfish light, I can usually see someone who's feeling the same or worse than me.

As a single gal, some activities are just more lonesome. Going to the Saturday night session of stake conference, for instance, or a too-long Sunday afternoon. And while I actually do "alone" pretty damn well, I'm not immune to moments where I wish things were a little different. Last week, in light of those activities I mentioned, I decided to look around for someone who might be feeling the same as me. Not surprisingly, I found someone. A phone call led to a simple pre-stake conference dinner (simple, because I'm still learning to cook), someone to sit next to at the meeting, and then the idea to take a long walk together on Sunday afternoon. Two people were helped, and one was me.

The fact is, the world is full of people, despite our sometimes feeling alone. And the second we unfold our arms and raise our eyes, we can usually see someone to wrap our arms around and someone to make eye contact with. The simple gesture of removing our blinders and seeing past what we often think is most important (a.k.a. ourselves) helps us to see what is always true: there's someone needing something more than you.