No use crying over spilled milk

Earlier this evening I spilled some milk (just a little, making drinks) and I thought, that's what my next Facebook status is going to be - 

"If Starbucks has taught me anything, it is that there is no use crying over spilled milk."  

I mean this literally and figuratively, and I think about it every time I spill milk... which for everyone who works bar at Starbucks is quite often, and then exponentially more often for me, as proven later in this post.

But for real.  There really is no use in beating yourself up over a mistake, a misjudgment, an inconvenient misstep on your path.  Life works out.  Spilled milk, literally and figuratively, will 99.8% of the time end up just fine, and you'll usually look back and laugh about it.  People forgive.  And forget.  We are all humans and all spill milk from time to time.  Some more than others (we all have that hot mess friend), but still all of us. 

And, unless you're hurting yourself or others, you really can't let yourself get too wrapped up in trying to change what's already happened or get overly focused on a mistake.  Life is messy.  There's always going to be spilled milk.  Laugh about it, learn from it, and move on.  Realize that things often happen for a reason, even though we can't immediately see that, and they always work out in the end.  So trust that.  Be present and don't worry.  No matter how big a mess you've gotten yourself into, there will always be a way to clean it up.  

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An example of this recently happened to me.  It wasn't really a mess, per se, but a situation where I thought I made the wrong choice, but it ended up working out way better than I ever could have imagined.  For Valentine's Day, I had two options.  One option was to go to dinner with lovely friends and then go to an improv show, and the other option was to go to a highly recommended dance show by myself.  That was supposed to be the only night I could see the show, since I had to work the following two nights, therefore I thought the perfect solution was to go to dinner with the friends, then leave to go to my show. 

Dinner was really fun and delicious, which made me not want to leave, so I decided to stay.  I realized later though that, even though it was a fabulous evening, I was really disappointed that I wasn't going to see this dance show.  I didn't go to the improv show and thought that I had kind of messed up the way the evening was supposed to go.  It just didn't feel right.  I'd made the wrong decision and was annoyed at myself.  

In my disappointment, I figured if I could get someone to take my Friday night shift at Sbucks, then I could go the following night to see the show.  Luckily, I quickly found someone, and my heart immediately lifted.  

The next day, I happened to have a participant talk to me about her blues band, which prompted me to talk to a coworker who works at Buddy Guys, only to find out that she was working that night, and that I should stop by, and that the place happened to be located near the dance show.  SO, Friday night, I was able to go to a really fun happy hour after work, which I wouldn't have gotten to do if I'd had to work at Sbucks; I saw the incredible show and even met my brother's friend afterward, which I wouldn't have been able to do the night before, since he was only attending Friday's show; I got to see a friend at Buddy Guys, where she completely hooked me up, and even introduced me to THE Buddy Guy himself, and where we all hung out until 5am.  AND I got to hang out with my friends on Valentine's Day, instead of leaving.  NONE of that would have happened, had my original 'plan' of going the night before had worked out.  I would have just gone to Sbucks and worked and had a typical, boring Friday evening.  

Long story short - LIFE WORKS OUT.  Sometimes we may not see it, but it will.  Like that quote - "Everything will be alright in the end.  So if it's not alright, it is not yet the end."

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Speaking of the end, this is what happened tonight at the end of my shift.  I was closing at Sbucks and my supervisor was doing one last minute thing, but everything else was done.  The store looked really clean, ready for the day tomorrow, so while I waited I decided to take another Trenta cup of milk home.  

I poured the 30 ounces of skim soy and was attempting to put the lid on (in my defense, Trenta cup lids suck)... when my manager made the mistake of talking to me, so I looked up... causing the entire cup to slide and fall... spilling allllll over our nicely polished fridge, nicely mopped floors, nicely wiped counters, and nice clean mat.  Oh, and ALL over the front of ME, right after I'd taken my apron off.  Here's a little taste of what it looked like. Please also note it going under the cabinets... 

= Allison in Starbucks

But, no use crying over spilled milk!  Literally.  We cleaned it up and all was well in the world.  

Synchronicity - me wanting to post about spilled milk and then this happens.  Synchronicity - when we think our plans don't go the way we want them to, but then they work out even better.  Synchronicity in life is so neat, and I've been finding it incredibly helpful to stop and take note when it happens.  I take those moments as signs that I am where I am supposed to be in the world and that all is right.  Look for synchronicity in your world!  And remember, no crying in baseball.  Oh, I mean over spilled milk.  

carpe diem, hakuna matata, no day but today... redhead OUT. 

Namaste