Comfortable Chaos

I know a thing or two about chaos.

I was a Licensed Child Care Provider. For more than 22 years, as a single parent, I spent-12-hours-a-day-5-days-a-week-raising-6-to-9-children-who-had-other-parents,-while-home-schooling-my-son-and-costuming-3-musicals-a-year-with-65-to-73-kids-in-each-show-for-a-nationwide-children’s-theater-company,-after-the-other-kids-went-home-and-on-weekends,-living-too-many-days-with-never-enough-hours-in-any-of-them-so-I-could-sleep-only-5-and-1/2-hours-a-night-for-117-years.

I lived in a circus — a three-ring, never ending circus.

Deep breath.

Deep, cleansing breath.

Sometimes I’d stop the minivan at the signal half a mile from home, close my eyes, and think, “Please let the light stay red so I can take a nap.”

Ten seconds later, the light always turned green.

Yeah, I know a thing or two about chaos.

Scan

“They’re so sweet when they’re sleeping.” Every mother everywhere throughout the History of Time.

There are two types of chaos.

One sneaks up behind you and bashes in your confidence with unexpected and devastating force, turning life upside-down, inside-out, and seven ways to Sunday. It most frequently involves illness, injury, death, and/or the American court system, and can drop you into a pit you might never climb out of. I’ve met this Chaos face to face in battle, and emerged scarred but victorious.

I will not talk about it behind its back.

The other kind of chaos surrounds you while you’re making a Plan. It turns your life upside-down and inside-out while filling it with frustration, laughter, creativity, noise, and love. You can try taming it by scheduling every activity, meal, and nap, but it will just laugh in your face and retreat to some tropic bar for mai tais or some exotic -tini drink, waiting for the moment you crack from the stress of trying to control ALL the possibilities ALL the time. There is only one way to survive this battle of Your Will against Reality and still maintain some modicum of mental and emotional health.

You have to follow Guy’s advice:

“Take comfort in the chaos — it means something is happening.” Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil

Because we each have our own circus, but the monkeys don’t belong to any of us.

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Author: Sue Ranscht

Having survived valve repair surgery and an experimental cardiac bypass at age 5, three years before it was an accepted medical procedure, Susan grew into the size of her overworked and enlarged heart. Maybe she thought she had enough to give it away -- twice. Both times, she had to retrieve the shattered pieces and puzzle them back together. She thanks her Dad for the only advice of his she ever followed to the letter: "Never get married. Learn to take care of yourself." So of course she is a writer. Susan has co-written a YA SciFi novel, and has three more novels in various stages of evolution. She's had several short stories published in other people's anthologies, some of which were contest-related. Let her tell you a story...

4 thoughts on “Comfortable Chaos”

  2. “Take comfort in the chaos — it means something is happening.” Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil.
    I love that, it’s so true. That’s a bit like the law of entropy. Entropy and Chaos never decrease but while you’re in it you can find your equilibrium and balance. You can’t find balance if you stop looking for it.

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    1. You’re right! In fact, I recently read a young adult interpretation of the laws of thermodynamics as they relate to Entropy: You can’t win. you can’t break even, but you can’t stop playing the game. (Spark by Atthys Gage)

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