There is a way

This morning we are going to talk to someone about apartments. Tom insists that finding an apartment is my job -- well, looking for one is. He reserves the right to not like what I find and send me back to the drawing board. Which is to say, back to the internet search.

My spontaneous reaction to this situation is to see much of what I am doing as leading to a huge mistake that will be very difficult to correct. You know, the fate of nations hangs in the balance, that sort of thing.

Well, not so much. If the first apartment we look at doesn't work, the Madison area is filled with other apartments. No need to get all crazy about it.

But this is a trap that I sometimes fall into. I act as if, when I come to a fork in the road and start off along one path, I can no longer change directions. I begin to think in terms of "I need to get to B, and you can't get there from here!"

Whereas, in fact, I can get most anywhere from here, even if it sometimes means going somewhere else first. The way forward does not consist of a superhighway with extremely limited access. It is more like a rustic country road, branching off here and there, splitting and merging, part of a large network. There is probably a shortest route, a more scenic route and so on. But there are actually lots of ways to get where I want to go.

Probably even to an apartment the cats will approve.