“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

~ John Lennon

One of the biggest paradoxes in life is that no matter how much you plan, you can’t plan for life happening.  It’s what this quote is talking about.  A person can live in the past or plan the future, but no matter what, life IS going to happen, without consent, and life isn’t always pretty.

As a planner myself, this entire concept jars me.  I’m logical.  I like to have a plan.  I like it even more when my plan goes as expected (or wanted).  Even reading today’s inspirational quote makes me, the control freak, shudder a bit.  I like to control my life and the events that surround it, but it doesn’t work that way.

The only thing that a person can do is redirect their efforts as life comes into play.  We humans are in a constant flux of change.  What’s important to remember is that despite the events that crash down upon us, some unexpectedly and some seen from far away, that we embrace those, alter our path, and carry on.  It’s the only way to survive.

This takes the ability to let go of fear, and trust ourselves and our instincts to weather any hardships. To trust that those we’ve surrounded ourselves with will be there to lean on for support.  To trust that, as cliché as it sounds, this too shall pass.  To trust that once we break through the hard times, we will emerge stronger on the other side.