Episode 49: A Butterfly, Some Crows, and the Rule of Thirds
Do I believe in signs? I don't know, but I really want to.
This season has been marked by a lot of unexpected change. The world at large seems so unreal right now. And because of that, work seems unusually out of my control. Tariffs have affected a lot of my jobs and clients, and it honestly sucks for everyone affected. So I’ve been working more on parts of my business that are not tariff-related and thinking through how I can be of service in other ways. More on that when I figure it out!
In my unpaid job as a recreational tennis player, I’ve been in a funk and losing way more league matches than usual. Despite the swing of my emotions, and my logic trying to kick in to fix things, THREE things happened yesterday while I was wallowing in my own self-pity…
While playing a casual singles match with a friend, a butterfly landed on my foot. We were packing up to head off the courts and saw the butterfly swirl around. For the three years I’ve played on these public courts, I have never once seen a butterfly there before. It proceeded to flutter around us and then found a cozy spot on my shoe! I joked to my friend that it was a good luck charm for our upcoming doubles match together. But what I didn’t realize until later was that I really needed that butterfly for me, too. We all know that butterflies represent change and metamorphosis. But with all the uneasiness I feel right now, that little insect just made me stop and appreciate how lucky I was to be here, making it through the ups and down that life throws our way.
Later that night while outside in my yard just before dusk, I heard a weird sound outside on our driveway. I looked over, and there were over a dozen CROWS hanging together just chatting and chilling like teenagers at the mall. I’ve seen crows from time to time here, but I have never seen so many (they call it a “murder of crows”) at once let alone outside our home. I quickly googled “symbolism of crows in your yard” and this is what came up…
So, hopefully they weren’t there to represent death, but all the other meanings fell in line with the butterfly from earlier in the day.
Finally, before I went to bed, I had posted a reel about the mental side of tennis and how I was feeling frustrated about recent matches I had lost. Someone (thank you Anna V.) messaged me telling me about “The Rule of Thirds” from this YouTube video featuring Olympian Alexi Pappas with some advice her coach had given her. You should watch the short video, but the basic idea is this…
When pursuing a goal, you should expect to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time. This framework encourages resilience and understanding that feeling bad or struggling is a normal part of the journey.
I don’t know what happened, but as soon as I read that, the weight of what I was feeling lifted. If my goal is to figure out how to tariff-proof my business or win more league tennis matches, why was I expecting myself to be able to always do those things right away all the time? I wasn’t giving myself permission to not get it right, to mess up, or to just let the crappy days be part of the process. I am human afterall.
I know that my story is specific to how my day went yesterday, but I do think there is something here for all of us no matter what we’re all going through.
And, p.s. here is the actual butterfly that landed on my foot! So sweet, right? I think I’ll name her Molly.
Thank you so much for being here and subscribing to Crazy. Mad. Joy. Butterfly and crows on a tennis court image created by me with Midjourney AI.
It's so good to have you back in my inbox Joy ❤️ Thank you for sharing this, "When pursuing a goal, you should expect to feel good a third of the time, okay a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time. This framework encourages resilience and understanding that feeling bad or struggling is a normal part of the journey."