Please take a minute and think of something that has been bothering you, perhaps even for a long time.

Like me, you likely have a swirl of thoughts about this thing. You want it to change but you are stymied in some way. It’s too hard, too expensive, there are multiple players, it could be risky…

These reasons keep us stuck, sometimes for years. And yet I learn again and again that changing things takes one moment of conviction when we finally say:

This is the time, and I will find the way.

And what that really means is:

I am done tolerating this situation and I will find a way to change it, no matter what.

Here’s my story:

For literally years, red squirrels have been living in the eaves of my house.

At first, I found it charming. Here was I, this modern Snow White, surrounded by adorable small animals, birds, deer wandering out of the forest, and even that one time, a BEAR.

But as the years wore on, my little friends grew bolder. Yes, everyone had told me that would be the case, but did I listen? Of course not. I told myself instead that this is a big house and there’s plenty of room, and red squirrels are rare-ish and need friendly places. And Snow White women like myself need to cut them some slack, right?

During the last two years, the destruction in earnest began. The chewing of pieces of my porch ceiling, the scattering of pieces of insulation, and even once, this summer, the very sad episode in which a baby squirrel fell through a hole that had been gnawed in the roof and, despite my best efforts to save her, died.

I look back now at my attempts to address this situation since 2019 and see that I was locked in a thought-cycle about it.

I want this cleaned up – but I can’t risk hurting the squirrels.

I want this cleaned up – but I don’t know how to manage it.

I want this cleaned up – but it might cost too much.

When the baby squirrel died this summer, I finally found my conviction:

This is the time, and I will find the way.

The funny things is, after that choice, the rest fell easily into place, and an aura of magic hangs around the whole project.

Early in the summer, I’d met a young electrician who helped with some outdoor wiring. I asked if he knew someone for the job and he suggested a young contractor. That led to a friendly meeting and an estimate and a proposed date to begin the two-part project of replacing the porch ceiling and closing up the eaves.

I was making progress, but I was still nervous. The red squirrels are usually busy by late August harvesting hickory nuts to stuff up into the eaves and ceiling, and I didn’t want anyone to get trapped in the ceiling when the work started.

Enter: the white cat.

Just about that time, a white cat took up residence in my yard. I’ve mentioned in past writings that I keep a big unmown patch in the backyard for pollinators and critters (and also because it’s fun to walk circles around it, reading or talking on the phone). I would see her, a white form in the tall grass, occasionally meeting my eyes if I happened to be walking the circuit.

Red squirrels are no fools. Her presence in the yard has changed everything. Where did she come from? I don’t know. But the timing of her arrival and residency here feels miraculous.

Another miracle: a cancellation allowed the work to begin two weeks earlier. Between that earlier date and the white cat, no one had yet moved into the eaves for winter. No one got trapped and the whole issue of doing right by the red squirrels became a non-issue. I could be a proud home-owner and still a lover of red squirrels. Everybody wins!

This is a long story to say this simple thing:

Once we make a firm decision, the magic is engaged, and the miracles are set in motion. The players assemble. The adventure begins in earnest. The key thing is the courage to stop putting up with the problem.

The electrician returned yesterday to install the new lights, and with that finishing touch, the saga that has consumed at least a small part of my brain for several years and caused me feelings of embarrassment and incompetence at not being unable to properly look after my home – all of that has been resolved and moved into the realm of Happily Ever After.

I wonder what the next thing is that will require this courage and clarity of me and of you? When it does, we can remember to summon the will and conviction to tell ourselves and this magical world in which we live:

This is the time, and I will find the way.

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