You Never Know What May Come

For many of us, life becomes fairly predictable. Our morning alarm sounds at the same time each day. We eat a similar breakfast day in and day out. We work at the same job. We enjoy the same weekend social activities and eat at similar restaurants.

For some, there is more variety than others, but overall, much of life follows these patterns before a sudden change or rite of passage. But through it all there remains an air of uncertainty. Nothing is guaranteed.

We understand loves ones can be ripped away without warning. We can lose our job or become ill. There is so much potential for change, yet we remain locked in to our familiar routines.

I’ve noticed that when I was struggling I had more of an optimistic mindset. I would imagine changes coming and being glorious. Now, I anticipate change coming and causing pain and suffering.

In my book, You Can’t Surf from the Shore, I highlight this disparity. Life contains all the good and all the bad we experience. We want to separate it out and only experience the positive aspects, shunning those negative ones.

Because it all exists together, we must embrace life for what it is, not complain about it. We must how to live life to its fullest regardless of the next change. It could be glorious, or it could be devastating.

That shouldn’t cause us to hide or avoid chasing what we want in life. The reality is that those devastating moments will always be there, lurking around the corner. We can’t avoid them because we don’t have complete dominion over the world.

The lesson of this natural balance is for us to balance as well. Should we save every penny for the future? Should live life today as if tomorrow is the end? We need to find the balance.

With the systems and habits approach to improvement, we use systems to create this balance. We change our daily activities to align with what we want in the future. We find ways to sacrifice for the future while enjoying the present.

Doing this will create the balance needed in life. We won’t spend it all now but then wake up in ten years with nothing. We won’t avoid happiness today for the opportunity for more joy in the future. Instead, we find a way to create a life that provides today and in the future. It might take more moderation. It might take some sacrifice at times. But it allows us to balance these two opposing concepts to create a life that thrives, even though we never know what may come.