A Story of Life-Changing Guidance That She Never Followed
The high school teacher advises her star student on life choices and inadvertently unlocks the power of negative possibilities.
Fiction | The Law of Attraction | Psychology | Manifesting Life | Advice
Miss Shields’ modest home smelled faintly of cinnamon and coffee. The sun streamed through half-open blinds, casting slanted rays on the living room’s hardwood floor.
Amy Reis sat upright on the edge of the couch. Her gaze moved from the overflowing bookshelf of worn classics to the family pictures on the mantle. They showed kids with gap-toothed smiles and a man in a plain work shirt with kind eyes.
“Thank you for inviting me, Miss Shields,” Amy said, smoothing out her skirt. Her voice carried the polite stiffness of someone out of their element.
Miss Shields poured coffee into two mismatched mugs, setting one in front of Amy. “Please, call me Cynthia. We’re not in school.”
Amy smiled and nodded, taking a careful sip of the coffee. It was bitter, but she kept drinking. Miss Shields settled into the armchair across from her, the teacher’s familiar authoritative aura softened by the comfort of her own home.
They talked about everything and nothing: poetry and politics, the latest novels, the tediousness of teenage drama.
“I’m going to work at the bank after graduation, Miss Shields. They already offered me a teller position. I’ll save some money and take a year off before I start at the University of the West Indies.”
Amy’s chest swelled as she outlined her plan. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and her smile was wide and toothy.
But, Miss Shields leaned forward, eyes sharp and severe now. “Amy, you’re brilliant. You have the kind of mind that doesn’t come around often, and I want you to hear me on this.” She paused, her fingers tracing the rim of her mug. “Go straight to college. Don’t take ‘a year off’ — that year turns into ten before you know it.”
Amy nodded, absorbing the weight of her teacher’s words.
“Number two,” Miss Shields continued, her voice unwavering. “Don’t marry until you’ve achieved all the education you desire. You deserve to focus on yourself first.”
Amy’s eyes flickered with respect and curiosity as though she saw her teacher in a new light.
“And the third thing,” Miss Shields glanced at the photos on the mantle, then back to Amy. “Marry someone on the same economic level as you, or higher. I love my husband, but to take our children to Disney, we have to save for years. If we were on the same income level, or if his was higher, things would be different.”
Amy didn’t speak, just nodded again. The advice felt heavy, as though it was meant to guide her through an invisible maze she couldn’t yet see. She glanced at the coffee, then at Miss Shields. The tiny lines at the corners of her teacher’s eyes caught her attention.
“I understand,” Amy said, and she meant it.
Thirty years later, Amy stared out the window of her small, well-loved kitchen. The sink was empty. The clock on the wall ticked steadily. Faint cartoon sounds came from the living room, where her youngest was sprawled on the couch. Her husband, Jim, was hunched over the dining table, scribbling in a notebook. He looked up, offering her a tired smile.
Amy had taken none of Miss Shields’ advice.
She’d taken ‘a year off’ that became a decade, then two. At 41, she finally completed her Master’s degree. She pieced it together through night classes and online courses between shifts and parent-teacher meetings.
She’d married Jim, a man with a high school diploma, just like herself back then. He was kind, steady, reliable. But she was sure this wasn’t what Miss Shields had meant. During their marriage, the income gap widened. Jim’s job paid what it always had. Amy’s degrees raised her salary, but travel was still limited to road trips and camping. The dream vacation to Singapore remained just that, a dream for another year or more.
She loved Jim, no question. He was a good father, her unwavering supporter. But she couldn’t shake the quiet, persistent ‘what if.’ What if she had followed Miss Shields’ advice? What if she had finished school earlier? What if they were on the same financial footing? Would it have made the difference she imagined?
Amy stepped away from the window, picking up a dish towel to dry her hands. She glanced at Jim, who was now deep in concentration, and she felt the familiar mix of affection and resignation. Life was what it was. She’d chosen this, every step of the way. As she watched her husband scribble numbers in his notebook, she heard Miss Shields’ clear, certain voice, advising her on that long-ago Saturday morning.
“Amy, I love my husband, but…”
© Scarlet Ibis James 2024, All Rights Reserved.
The #vss365 word prompt for September 5 is guide.
Backstory
This tale is rooted in my lived experience. I dreamt of it last night, and the clarity of its connection to the Law of Attraction and positive thinking philosophies bloomed in my mind.
Consider that if you focus on what you don’t want, you’re still giving energy and attention to those negative possibilities, which can unintentionally bring them into your reality. It’s like telling someone, “Don’t think of a pink elephant” — the first thing that comes to mind is, of course, a pink elephant!
The approach emphasizes framing your desires and goals positively and affirmatively. Instead of saying, “I don’t want to struggle financially,” you’d say, “I want to achieve financial stability and abundance.” The belief is that positive statements help guide your subconscious mind, setting a more straightforward path for the universe (or your actions) to align with what you truly want.
In the story's context, Miss Shields’ advice is framed as what Amy should do, yet Amy’s reflections show the consequences of not following those positive directives, almost as if the negative realities came true by default.
‘Don’t stop’ = Stop
‘Don’t marry young’ = Marry young
‘Don’t marry economically inequitably’ …
In each case, Amy, perhaps, attracted the negative possibilities.
Therein is the cautionary tale: Consider the power of intention and frame your goals positively to influence your outcomes.
And This
When I listened to Kellye Whitney's book review on TikTok about the soft wife's life, I remembered my Saturday with my English teacher.
Marry Well Black Girl: A guide to live your best Soft Wife Life
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“The Power of Your Subconscious Mind” by Joseph Murphy teaches how to harness the power of your subconscious mind to achieve success, health, and happiness by aligning your thoughts and beliefs with your desires.
The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind
“Law Of Attraction: Your Secret to Attract Money, Love, Success, and Happiness in Your Life Now” shows you how to unlock the magic of your thoughts to bring more or everything you ever wanted into your life.
Law Of Attraction: Your Secret to Attract Money, Love, Success, and Happiness in Your Life Now
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