You are very good at making plans.
Very good at separating work from pleasure. Separating fun and commitment.
You are very good at organizing and following a schedule.
At anticipating. Preparing.
You are a master predictor. A most efficient task master. An excellent manager.
You put all the days of your life, along with your many neglected dreams, into a leather bound Day Timer or a one page To Do List.
The list, you gleefully hang on your fridge or tape it to your bathroom mirror. As for your Day Timer, you are rarely separated and hurriedly tuck under your arm or press is quickly into your bag, as you fly out the door, to get ready and be ready for the ready.
And everything is great.
Your life runs smoothly.
Until the bad weather comes.
Until your tire finds a nail.
Until the unexpected, expectedly happens.
That is when you don’t know what to do with yourself. That is when you begin to freak out.
At that exact moment.
Thats when the world seems to go rogue. That’s when life seems to spite your very existence.
When the stock market plummets. When the person you loved finds somebody new. When a person you needed to come through, doesn’t come through, and you’re left wanting.
When you come to a yield sign what happens.
What happens when the unscheduled moments of your life barge and write themselves into your day? They are unwanted and uninvited. What happens when they push your around like a bully shaking you down for milk money?
The unscheduled things always arrive right on schedule.
Their timing is perfect.
They always come right on time.
Without fail. Without fanfare. Unrecognized. Unanticipated.
When this happens what do you do? How do you handle the moment? What are you like and how do you treat those that surround you?
I think having the wind knocked out of you serves you well.
If you give it time.
I think things happen for a reason.
Life is not predestined. But every opportunity, planned or unplanned offers new possibilities.
This is why you should not easily fold and freak out. Take some time and take a long and meaningful look how you handle yourself.
What do you do? Are you calm? Are you able to bend? Are you able to improvise? Laugh? Cry? Move your body to a brand new rhythm?
Be honest with yourself and don’t hide from the unexpected.
How you handle the things you cannot change tells you how much you’ve grown.
How you handle the things you cannot change tells you how much you are ready to receive the things you’ve been longing for.
When the snow comes. When ice forms on what was to be a beautiful spring day, what do you do?
Are you the pawn on a chess board or are you the chess board?
You cannot the unexpected circumstances in your life, but you can change how how you perceive them. When you encounter a yield sign you’ll be either either disappointed because you have to slow down, or happy because you can safely merge with the oncoming traffic.
You have to respect the yield sign.
You have to learn to yield to life.
Because maybe your life was not meant to be hanging on a fridge or a bathroom mirror.
Maybe the ready is not ready to be ready.
So obey all road signs.
The unfamiliar way, maybe the fastest way, to get out of the problem, you didn’t know you had.
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Kevin Borrill via unsplash.com
