Rolling with the Punches

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I feel like this post couldn't have come at a better time. Right now I have quite a few friends/family members who are going through some major life changes. New jobs, school, pregnancy, moving etc. You name it and I probably know someone going through it. Change is a HUGE part of our lives. There's just no way to avoid it. So this post is dedicated to all the people I know who are struggling. I hope it helps. I'm not an expert, but I think given my history, I have gained some valuable experience.

If I have learned anything in my 32 years walking this Earth, it's that life never goes as planned.
No matter how hard I try to plan my future, the more changes crop up. The bloody thing almost always does the exact opposite. Sometimes I feel it's just to spite me.

It's like trying to stick a square peg into a round hole. No matter how hard you force the bugger it just won't budge. Then, as soon as you find a round peg that will slip in nice and easy, the bastard changes to a triangle hole and your damn peg won't fit...AGAIN!

That's how life is. A butterfly flaps its wings and a tsunami hits Japan. (Or some other equivalent terrible disaster.)

This happens to be incredibly frustrating for me as I'm a chronic planner. I organize my free time for god's sake! Yup I am that person. <insert neurotic joke here> So when life throws me a curve, it pisses me off to no end. I not only want my plans to follow through, I want them NOW. I've become a product of the impatient society I despise.

UGH!

Up until 2 years ago my frustrations at life's ever changing nature used to send me reeling. I was no where near the path I'd set out to follow and I thought that was a bad thing.

I was wrong! Surprise, surprise.

Meditation taught me how to relax. It taught me that it's the present I should be focusing on, not the future. Living your life for tomorrow is a fool's errand. It's impossible to live in the future because once you're there it becomes the present. So you dwell on living in the future which becomes the present - again - and then your head blows up. Seriously, don't even try to work that shit out.

It's the same for the past. Can't live there either - well yet. I'm holding out for time travel, in which case this entire rant will be a load of crap. Until that day, I think it's safe to say it's the present we should be focusing on.

Okay, so we all agree that we live in the present, or at least should, now back to the pesky changing life issues.

Even if we could plan out every single aspect of our lives, would we want to? I mean really, if my life went according to plan, think of all the experiences I'd miss. The friends I'd never meet, the fun I'd never have.

Have there been struggles? Absolutely! Without question! I've had my share of tears and regrets. There's been mistakes I've made that I wish I could erase. I'd love to call Do-Over on many experiences. Yet this crazy path led me to life I have now. Even if I could go back (time travel fully instated) and change all those mistakes, take all the chances I didn't take and avoid all the crap ones I took. If I could go back and set everything "right" in the desperate attempt to ensure my plans came to fruition, I can guarantee my life still wouldn't end up as planned.

Such is life. Ever changing. Ever growing. Ever learning.

From now on I'm putting my faith in changes. Shit happens, life contorts and it almost always works out. Now I'm not saying, plan be damned! I'm still going to make my decisions with the future in mind. I'm not about to leave everything to chance.

Oh yes! I think I will sell my house and all my possessions because the Universe will take care of me!

Doubt it. That's just being plain stupid. But when my life takes an unexpected turn or falls of the tracks I've carefully laid down for it, I'm going to walk up to the new challenge and be like..

Oh yeah, life? What up Bitch?! Let's do this!!

All gangster like, guns blazing.

Changes aren't always the negative we perceive them to be. In fact I'm willing to say that changes can be the best part of our lives. So embrace them, hang on and enjoy the ride!