by Sometimes, we may not feel ready for what’s coming our way. But it doesn’t matter. It keeps coming anyway. Life happens. Opportunities come. Heartaches come. Change comes – like it or not – ready or not. Life is an ever evolving story complete with ups and downs and everything in between.
Remember playing hide-n-seek as children? What does the seeker announce after all the kids hide? “Ready or not, here I come….” It is the rare child that is so deeply hidden that does not get found.
Life is like that too. You will get found. You will be called upon. Seekers will come your way. And they wear many different guises. Some will be welcome. (“Yay, a baby!”) Some will be unwelcome. (“Why is this happening to me?”) And some will be simply unexpected. (“Say…what??”)
So what can we do to prepare for the unexpected? The answer is a lot and nothing.
We can show up. We can participate in what is happening (even if we wish it weren’t). We can choose courage over fear (which is much easier said than done). We can remember to breathe, to garner support from our close posse of family and friends, and to get advice from reliable sources. And we can keep moving ahead one step at a time.
Like writer Glennon Doyle, we can say, “I’m not ready, but yes, anyway.” This quote encapsulates what I have felt, and you have likely felt, many times in life. For Doyle, the first “not ready, but yes, anyway” was an unexpected pregnancy. The next “not ready, but yes, anyway” was getting sober. This was followed by a “not ready, but yes, anyway” of writing and being “plunged into things I felt wholly unqualified to do.” But she kept doing them anyway. She kept showing up. Her work got published, and her talks got listened to. And she shares with us, “My mantra is faith and sweat.” (Glennon Doyle in Sept. 2017 issue of O Magazine)
My mantra is “Be Brave,” and I wear it on a bracelet every day. It reminds me to go ahead and put my feet in the water, try new things, and be open to new experiences and people. It also reminds me to have faith in times of despair when attitude and faith are all that I have left.
Because ready or not, here life comes.
