Alright, so I wanted to share a bit about something I’ve been mulling over, something that life just kinda throws at you. You know how you make plans, you think you’ve got it all figured out, and then BAM! Life pulls a fast one. That’s been my experience, especially lately.
I used to be a big planner. I mean, meticulous. Lists for my lists. I’d map out projects, goals, even how conversations were supposed to go. Sounds a bit nuts now that I say it out loud, but that’s how I operated. I figured if I just controlled all the variables, success was guaranteed. Yeah, right.
So, there I was, working on this particular personal project. I was pouring hours into it, convinced this was THE thing. I was looking for a breakthrough, expecting it to come from all the effort I was putting in, all the avenues I was chasing down. I networked, I researched, I did all the “right” things. And what did I get? Mostly crickets. It was frustrating, man. Like hitting your head against a brick wall.
Then, completely unrelated, I was just having coffee with an old acquaintance. We weren’t even talking about my project, just catching up, shooting the breeze. And then, out of absolutely nowhere, they mention something, a tiny little detail about a problem they were having. And it was like a lightbulb went off. Not just a dim one, but a full-on stadium floodlight.
That casual remark, that thing I wasn’t even looking for, it unlocked the whole damn puzzle for my project. Something I’d been wrestling with for months, just clicked into place because of a random comment in a random conversation. When I least expected it, literally.
It made me stop and think. All those times I’d heard phrases or quotes about things happening when you least expect them, I kinda just nodded along. “Yeah, yeah, sure.” But experiencing it? That’s different. It’s like those words suddenly have weight, they’re not just empty platitudes anymore.
My Takeaway From This Whole Thing
So, my “practice” now, if you can call it that, has changed a lot. I still plan, sure, you can’t just float through life with no direction. But I hold those plans a lot looser now. I’ve learned to keep my eyes open, to be more receptive to the unexpected. Because sometimes, the universe, or whatever you want to call it, has a different idea. And often, its ideas are way better, or at least more interesting, than mine.
- Being Open: I try to just be more present and open to what’s happening around me, not just hyper-focused on what I think should be happening.
- Less Forcing It: If something feels like I’m trying to ram a square peg into a round hole, I take a step back. Sometimes the path reveals itself when you stop trying to bulldoze your way through.
- Valuing the Detours: Those “distractions” or “detours”? Sometimes they’re where the magic is hiding. That coffee meeting was a “detour” from my “important work.” Ha!
It’s a bit humbling, really. To realize you’re not entirely in the driver’s seat. But it’s also kind of liberating. It takes some of the pressure off. You do your best, you put in the work, but you also leave a little room for life to surprise you. And more often than not, when it does, it’s usually when you’re looking the other way, busy making other plans. That’s been my big lesson, the one I keep learning over and over.
