Has your life gone as planned?

Uncertainty often gets the best of us because planning is our comfort zone. We crave a semblance of control over time, and we find solace in having an agenda. We feel confident while coloring within the lines we’ve drawn. So when the big picture itself starts to change, and those lines lose their meaning, we freeze and question everything.

Yet, this morning, I found myself reflecting on the times my life didn’t go as planned, and the joy and the magic and the splendor I found in the change of course that followed. I didn’t plan getting laid off last year — but it led me to start my own business.

I didn’t plan on becoming an entrepreneur — but it turns out everything I’ve ever done has led me to this freedom and expansion. I didn’t plan for the person I’ve become, and he is so different from who I thought he’d be — but I am surely glad for everything that led me to becoming him.

I didn’t plan for the LinkedIn friendships, the deep inspirational connections, the spontaneous funny moments, the surprise show invitations, the downpours of support, and the detours thrown my way that have made up my life. But I am grateful for them beyond measure, and I don’t think my planning could’ve done it better.

In this reflection, I realize that all we can plan for right now is intentions. And today, I intend to be grateful for the cancelations, the change of plans, the roadblocks, and even the uncertainty.

I’m grateful for where each one has led me. Because even though I feel lost in the unknown, there’s a tender part of me that trusts this is all leading to something bigger than I can plan for. One day, I will look back on this time, and all I will see is magic. I won’t remember how stuck I felt, or how far behind I thought I was, or what I wished I had done differently.

All I will see is that within my uncertainty was also potential, and within my lostness was also an opportunity to be found, and within my discomfort was a chance to see what I needed to change, and changing it was me becoming the person I was always meant to be.

I will soon see how a greater plan was at work, a plan directed by a higher being. I will recognize that despite my most intense resistance, what was not meant for me would not be for me. I will recognize that despite my deepest fears, what was meant for me was inevitable for me.

I will see how all of my questions will be answered.

I will see the power that each lesson came to teach me.

I will see that each step I took served a purpose.

When I look back on years past, the struggles I endured will slowly smooth out into stories of my resilience, and my bravery, the odds that were against me, and the incredible life that I have lived.

What about you?

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