Kaleidoscope project – The tipping point
Over the edge and into the abyss we go…
The tipping point
We have been balancing it all for so long,
That next grain of sand; an ask, a favour, a demand…
Too much load, and not enough support,
The scales tilt, everything crashes.
Breathe, sweep it up. Time to start again.
Wow, okay, that just kind of flowed out as a starting point. And in keeping with my goal to practice imperfection, I am going to just leave that one alone as I explore this topic a bit more in the words below.
Childhood amusement
Hearing the title of this month’s project, I immediately thought about the afternoon gameshow on UK TV, similar to Mark. It is based on one of my favourite arcade games that I always loved to play whenever we were anywhere that had one. Video games and all that jazz never really excited me, but taking a hand full of pennies, and trying to figure out where best to send them into the machine (working out which coin slot, watching for the perfect timing of the shelf), I could be totally drawn in for minutes if not hours.
Trying to calculate the precise timing and location was key to success and having the patience to watch, wait, and then ‘drop it’ at that perfect moment, could lead to the big win! What joy to win a handful more pennies to keep the game going, buy a sweet treat as the winner’s reward, or to save for another day.
System overload
Thinking about the tipping point now, I feel a sense of sadness as the phrase conjures up much stronger images of burden and burn out. I guess as reflected in my initial poem, the feeling of overload is quite prominent with me right now, due to a multitude to factors hitting me from all sides. This is not something I am comfortable delving deeply into here, but needless to say, personal and professional challenges have built up and up.
I think this is why I have chosen this time to get the array of thoughts out of my head and share them. Channelling my random musings and capturing them on ‘paper’ feels like a way to digest, process, and move on when I am ready. I am not expecting to be the greatest writer, but if someone stumbles across my rambling words and finds some solace, alignment or connection in them, then I will have touched another soul and the effort to translate thoughts to words and post into the abyss was very much worth it!
Some of the challenges in life seem to have been going at full throttle. In November last year everything changed for me, and in the blink of an eye everything halted. Like running headfirst into a brick wall, that sudden change in momentum was instant, hard and discombobulating. But the tip over into a new pace I am now carving out has been enlightening, and I am finding it within me to explore parts of myself that have been quiet for a long time.
Reset and rise
I guess that if the tipping point in our lives gives us an opportunity to stop, reflect, and then shift our mindset or direction of travel, then the culmination of what came before can be seen as the prelude to a new chance or chapter. Sometimes, we have to be pushed past that point to recognise that change is needed.
If we can find it in us to embrace change and give it another go, but in a slightly different way (like choosing a different slot for the next penny), then we could be on for a win!
I thought this was great! I completely relate to things coming to a culmination and problems growing bigger until they spill over.
I think the game is funny as it’s a lot like life really. You can try and time and find the perfect slot to place your penny but one little bounce could mean fortune or “failure”. As we try and find the perfect slot to put ourselves in within a problem or life in general. Sometimes we are just bounced in another direction on the pins of life.
If is as much luck and trying again as it is exact placements and I think you did really well with this assignment.
I love the poem, if that had been the end of your post, I would have been happy. It shows struggle, but then you end on resilience, foreshadowing the rest of post.
I'm glad you left it there too, although I'd never have known if you didn't say. I've got too many examples of where I've ruined a poem by trying to get a stanza just right and getting annoyed and abandoning it, I write in my notes app so I can't always "undo" enough to get back to what I had that was better. I don't have the same issue with non-poems. Weird.
Your exploration of the tipping point is beautifully layered, from the nostalgia of the 2p machines, (or 10p, if you were feeling rich!) to the deeper, more personal reflections on your feelings of overload and instant change. Then the idea of changing direction and a new chance, and looping back to the cascade machines.
I hope the next slot you choose wins you the prize.
Thanks for entering and challenging yourself.