Unchartered Waters

Sometime in the late 1980s, my horoscope in a magazine advised that my life was about to become like a ship in unchartered waters. I don't affirm or discount astrology's validity, but I do enjoy looking at it occasionally. The fact is, this particular message proved important to me.

Basic human nature is that though we recognize change happens, we don't readily welcome it, especially if we initially perceive the change as negative. We tend to want a level of predictability {emdash} a reasonable requirement, to some degree. Growing up in my particular culture in the South, I believed my life would follow a certain path. A predictable path. Thirty years later, I'm tremendously relieved it didn't.

That particular horoscope helped me look at my attitude about life and shift it. My first feeling when I read it was trepidation. It was an ego-based fear that imagined a life of more change than I believed I wanted. Fear of this was not conducive to an enjoyable life experience; so I decided, especially once I read, "Change is the only constant," to adopt a sense of wonder and embrace the process.

An exercise we did in life coach training was to imagine that we'd just woken up. We knew a miracle happened during the night. We didn't know what it was, we just knew that we'd changed. We were asked, What's Different? My difference was I saw myself greet each day with enthusiasm, choosing to approach my to-do list with a sense of fun and potential opportunity rather than as tedious or with seriousness motivated by anxiety {emdash} and to anticipate at least one wonderful thing would happen. I refer to normal circumstances here, not extraordinary ones like emergencies.

What we think has everything to do with how we experience the moments of our lives. If we wake up thinking, "Ugh, another day of the same old stuff," that's more than likely what we'll get. It's like the joke where two boys are placed in separate rooms filled with manure, each asked to start shoveling. One boy stops and refuses to continue. The other boy keeps shoveling with enthusiasm. Finally, someone asked him Why. His answer {emdash} "With all this manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere." We can choose, every day, to anticipate that a "pony" will show up.

Many people move through life like sleepwalkers. They fail to do the one thing that could change how they experience life: Consciously participate in their journey. If you feel your life isn't fulfilling, decide what you want it to look like, make a plan, and make a change. You may have to be a bit patient, though. What you envision has all to do with how long it takes for everything and everyone needed to come together. My life now is what I envisioned over the last several years. I had to be in the right location, do the right things, and connect with the right people. I know people who, had they known my vision, would have called it unrealistic. The moment you decide to prefer your life be one of traveling unchartered waters rather than be predictable, it will surprise you how often the wind fills your sails to help you along the way. Aim your ship in a direction and enjoy the ride.