I’ve written before about how, when you invite change into your life, change comes into your life.

All of August felt like a pause to me. It was too hot to walk, the apartment was a disaster zone, we couldn’t sleep in the bedroom because the floors were moldy and buckled from the flood, and I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. My husband kept gently poking me: when was I going to reach out to the insurance company. I dreaded the idea – the paperwork, the hassle, what if we had arguments. I hate arguments.

Finally, I called them and, to my surprise, the insurance company was prompt, professional, and accommodating. Then I had to reach out to the building and discovered more good news: the building was planning to replace the floors.

September brought relief. The temperature dropped, repair work started on the floors, and I started imagining what my path forward might be. The insurance company agreed to remove and store the furniture and put us up in a hotel for “a week” – which I warned them would probably be three weeks, knowing this contractor, which it turned out to be. It had been bad enough being home all day, trying to work at my dining table with mattresses and closet contents piled up around me; now I was trying to work in a NY-sized hotel room which, while pleasingly quiet, was not really geared for working, and looked out into a “light well” (without birds, complained The Cat) and across a ten-foot gap into what looked like a dot-com building. Since it would only be “a week” I mostly brought shorts, workout gear, jeans – oh, and just in case I needed it, one business suit.

And, of course, while the apartment floors and walls were being repaired, change came into my life.

When the movers took the furniture away, it didn’t make sense for them to take the old Door Store particle-board file cabinet because it was on its last legs. I disassembled it with a hammer. But the departure of that one piece of furniture left a gap in the bedroom. I suggested to my husband that we move the TV armoire into the bedroom to replace it. He, delighted by the prospect of a larger TV, agreed, which means finding something to put that TV on, when we finally buy it. And we still need someplace to store the contents of the file cabinet, and means rearranging the living room. And the sofa-bed that we slept on throughout August, told us it was too uncomfortable to subject guests to; we’ll need to replace that, too (relatives and friends, please keep the cheering down).

Oh, and midway through week 2, I accepted a job offer to help retailers with change management – exactly what I had decided my next step should be. Suddenly I was rushing out of town for orientation and training, and all my business clothes were in a warehouse somewhere in New Jersey! Then I was back, trying to take conference calls and build relationships from my tiny hotel room, and packing and ferrying suitcases back to the apartment, to be stored in the kitchen while the contractor finally finished repairing walls and floors.

So that’s my excuse for not blogging for a couple of weeks.

But things are settling back now. On Monday, the movers dropped off our furniture, closet contents, and wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too many boxes of books (occupational hazard), which my husband has decided he needs to catalog. He encourages me to go into the database and “tag” the books and/or record their location on the shelves. Right. That’s like asking me to “tag” my friends – not happening, although I’m a little sad that he’s putting them on the shelves without me. (Don’t worry, my lovelies, mommy will be home soon to cuddle with you.)

Then I’ll have to figure out how to build a home office in a corner somewhere in the apartment.

As I said before, when you make a change in your life, change comes into your life. A small change causes momentum, and before you know it, big change comes to you.

Try it: one little change, maybe you decide to eat healthier or walk a few more steps each day. Maybe, instead of watching TV every night, you sign up for Toastmasters once a month. Or you reach out to an old friend, someone who you enjoyed working with in the past but didn’t keep up with, and talk to them for 20 minutes, finding out what they’re up to, and where their journey has taken them.

You don’t have to do a lot – just do a little. The bigger changes will find you.

They always do.