Nobody Knows

A friendly PSA as we’re bombarded with the seasonal conversations around intentions and goal setting. Amidst all the year in review work and all the looking to the future, please be kind to yourself. Remember that you are living your life – right now. In this very moment. And as for the future?

Nobody knows.

Sure, we have ideas, we have desires. We have ways we think things should play out. We make checklists and playlists and gear lists – inventorying what we think we’ll need to get there or do that. We seek answers and create contingency plans. We make contingency plans for our contingency plans. We reverse engineer, breaking that big thing down into myriad little things. We research possible avenues, imagine possible outcomes, design our calendars, and align our expectations accordingly. We make the lists and check them twice. Thrice. Maybe another time or two just to make sure.

Because, you know, measure twice, cut once and all that.

But nobody really knows what the future holds.

It can be easy to fall into the preparation trap. Getting ready, to get ready. Planning ahead and vision casting and lining up all the ducks. The truth is, we are rarely ever ready for the things that change our lives. Even when we think we’re ready, we aren’t. We have no idea what we don’t know. And we will never know or learn those things if we don’t take committed action. And when we DO take committed action, we learn that half our preparation was for naught because that thing we thought we were doing is actually something else. It has a life of its own, a type of co-creative sentience.

And everyone has their own way of exploring and interacting with that.

There is no one way to do anything.

There is only OUR way.

And we only discover it, by doing it.

Our dreams don’t come with an illustrated assembly guide. Our lives don’t come with an instruction manual. And our journeys don’t come with detailed maps.

Paths are made by walking. Streams are crossed one stone at a time. And the quality of the journey itself is up to us. Our attitudes, our thoughts, and our ability to receive play vital roles in our experiences, as well as our outcomes.

And it’s the journey, not the destination, that’s the whole point.

We may as well have fun with it.

Here’s to embracing that no one really knows. We’re all just making things up as we go along. And, everything is creation. So let’s have fun exploring, allowing, and moving in the direction(s) of our own choosing in the most joyful ways possible.