Getting Locked Out

Great Morning, Y'all!

Today I want to share a story that my girlfriend wrote about us getting locked out of our house yesterday,

along with my thoughts on how we react to situations like this.

ELLE'S STORY

"Cam and I hosted our 8th gratitude call at 8 AM and hopped outside for a walk, as always.

He turns to me and goes “Do you have the house key on you?”

SURPRISE! We locked ourselves out of the house! We check all the doors and windows hoping that one would swing open and greet us with sweet A.C. in 100° Texas heat. No luck. Then I remember the previous owner messaged me on Linkedin about a package delivery. HECK YES. I’ll just message him and ask for the garage door code. Huzzah! Problem solved… right?

We stroll around our neighborhood for an hour, admiring the flowers and a tiny green caterpillar making its trek across the sidewalk. We’re smiling and enjoying the sun. But I keep sneaking a peek at my phone while Cam isn’t looking, hoping to see a message back from the previous owner, but see zilch-o every time I check.

My higher self is saying “Stop thinking about the text and it’ll come!” but my mind keeps floating back to the text. I laugh. Awareness is funny when you start roasting yourself for creating your own suffering. And detachment is easy until you’re a sweaty ogre stuck outside.

On the bright side… Cam is unbothered and thriving because we keep walking past service vans for everything we’ve been looking for: garage floor coatings, housekeeping, lawn care.

Cam laughs and says, “Not kidding, I set an intention to take care of the house logistics today… and then we come across literally everything we need! That was easy!”

An hour later, we get back to the house.

Still no text. We sit on the front porch and I feel sadness slowly start to creep in, because we’ll have to wait God knows how long for a locksmith.

Cam has a eureka moment: “Oh, remember that email we got about the re-keying service? Let’s call them and have them change all the locks! Yet another house item crossed off the list!”

I find the email, call the number, and my mood is in purgatory while they have us on hold. I’m deflating by the second as sweat rolls down my forehead.

All the sudden, we hear: “OH MY GOSH, HI GUYS! IT’S SO GOOD TO MEET YOU!”

It’s our new neighbor’s daughter, a nurse at a nearby hospital we haven’t met, and I pop off the porch to say hello while Cam talks to the locksmith.

She is extremely friendly with sparkly eyes. Her positivity is so infectious that every ounce of “BLURGH” evaporates from my mood. Like a hard reset on my frustrations.

Then she says: “I’m living at home to save money for a house, but since I moved away from the city, it’s been really hard to make friends. Last night, I realized that I miss college because I miss all the amazing conversations… I keep having the same boring ones on loop everywhere I go. I need a total reset. I’m craving something more meaningful.”

WHAT?!

All of our work revolves around meaningful conversations and building community. So we tell her about our weekly walks and our daily gratitude call, and she erupts with excitement mid-sentence:

“I’M SO THERE! WOW! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! I’m so glad we met.”

Right after she said this, Cam shouts from a few feet away: “He just responded with the garage code! And the locksmith is coming to re-key the house! HECK YEAH!”

Of course… the moment I took focus off what I wanted (the text back), it arrived. Right on time, because we never would’ve connected with our awesome neighbor if that text came 10 minutes earlier. All in perfect timing, as always.

“We locked ourselves out because we were meant to talk to her,” Cam says. Of course. Leave room for surprises."

MY THOUGHTS

First things first, I want to address the elephant in the room...

Yes, Elle is a fantastic writer, much better than I am. I have a lot to learn from her, haha!

When it comes to this story, I'd like to share how my perspective on such inconveniences has evolved over time.

Months ago, being locked out of our house on a scorching 100-degree Texas summer day would have triggered intense anxiety throughout my body.

I'd become so consumed by my thoughts that anger would take over.

I'd be furious with myself, the garage door, and even the previous owners for not providing an extra set of keys.

I would have so much frustration in my body that I'd begin to blame objects and people that had nothing to do with this.

Now that a mindset shift has taken place, every inconvenience feels like it has a bigger meaning behind it.

As soon as something doesn't go my way, it's important to keep in mind that it wasn't meant to.

Something else, something better is supposed to happen in that moment instead.

After months of intentionally rewiring the mind, even getting locked out becomes an opportunity for something positive.

This unexpected situation led to three new contacts for household tasks and an introduction to a neighbor we might not have met otherwise.

The funny thing is, the moment we do everything in our power to solve it,

while simultaneously letting go of the expectations of it being solved,

everything just figures itself out.

We did all the inputs we can do to fix the problem, now we can just wait patiently for the results to come to fruition.

All that extra stress is optional.

Everything will be okay. Everything will work itself out, like it always has.

CONCLUSION

Action is needed, but the undesirable emotions around that problem aren't.

Every time we are inconvenienced, it's happening for a reason. There's a person to meet, something to see, and a lesson to be learned.

That's it for today.

I hope you know that you are loved and enough.

See you tomorrow,

I unconditionally love you all.

-Cameron Hogan