Ready or Not...Here Comes Life
Ever since the pilot of Spongebob Squarepants, Spongebob's eternally optimistic attitude can best be described by his catchphrase: "I'm ready". Whether Spongebob is applying for a job at the Krusty Krab or about to take his boating exam for the umpteenth time, he confidently shouts "I'm ready" a few times. As it turns out, Spongebob was ready for the job at the Krusty Krab - but to this day, he's still never fully ready for that boating exam, no matter how many times he says "I'm ready".
Sometimes in life, we may say or believe that we're ready for something...only to realize that we weren't ready. We may have been overconfident, we may have underestimated what was in store, we may not have fully understood what was in store, or there simply was no way to fully be ready. As a nod to old Nationwide commercials (pre-Peyton Manning and Brad Paisely, of course), life comes at you fast. Life doesn't wait until you're "ready" for something - it happens whether you're ready or note.
In a way, it is all like "hide and seek" in the sense that life is the seeker and says "ready or not, here I come". When that's said, we may have a great hiding spot picked out or are frantically looking to find spot. Nevertheless, we are inevitable found by the seeker that is life, no matter how good our hiding spot is. We may be able to hide from it for a little while, but we never can long-term.
We don't get to decide when we face trials in life. Life (and more specifically God) decides when we face trials in our lives - whether or not we're ready. There are limits to being ready for something. It's one thing to prepare for a test or an interview and be ready for that. It's quite another thing to be ready for situations that pop up and require immediate action. And even for events that we can prepare for, it's hard to truly be ready for every single question or scenario. With life, sometimes the best way to learn is trial by fire. Another way to put: getting pushed into the deep end of the pool - and without the floaties, too.
Over the past few months, I've come to learn that life has a way of happening all at once. Instead of pacing crazy events, life throws them at you all at the same time. It can be pretty overwhelming when that all happens, especially when there isn't the luxury of easing in to something, but having to take it all head on. This leads to inevitable mistakes, frustrations, and of course plenty of stress. There also is the frustration of thinking that a problem has been taken care of...only to find out that it is back and even worse than initially imagined. One thing I'm reminded of when this happens is in Hercules when Hercules cuts off the monster's head and thinks the battle is over...only for the monster to come back and now have three heads. It is in those life situations that a Herculean effort is unexpectedly required (terrible and dramatic pun intended).
Life can be hard. Work can get pretty crazy during busy seasons, people will leave and change jobs, new projects or roles will come up, and all of this can lead to a lot of hours worked, stress, and frustrations. There can also be this wondering if the busyness will ever slow down and fear that it never will. On top of that, life can throw all sorts of unexpected challenges and problems at you, too. The issues that life throws at you outside of work end up being worse because they're much more difficult to escape than just leaving the office. There may not be a worse feeling than thinking a situation can't get any worse and then realize that it has. Like work, there becomes that lingering question if the situation will ever get better or fully resolved. The answer is that it usually will, but it can take longer than we want it to.
The trials life throws at us can teach us a lot. They say that life is 10% what happens and 90% how we react to what happens. If that is indeed the case, there's a lot that can be learned from that pesky 10% that does happen. Through these trials, we can learn a lot and grow from them. We end up better off because of those trials, not in spite of them. And, when we do go through unexpected events, we do end up better prepared and ready the next time a similar event comes up in our lives.
I've learned a lot these past few months, more than I can fully put into words. One thing that's been made pretty clear to me is I need to work on 90% of life. You know, how I react to the 10% that does happen. With that, it means taking care of myself, setting boundaries at places like work, knowing my limits/bandwidth, and doing small things for myself, like going for a walk, getting dinner with friends, or taking a trip to Virginia to see family. Okay, the last one isn't as small, but it's still pretty important - and timely. Another thing that I've learned is that the importance of staying true to yourself and doing the right thing. With that, I've also found there to be a value in being transparent with others and coming clean. It's better to tell the truth and explain yourself right away than have others find out later or on their own. When you do that, people take notice. Doing the right thing and working hard may feel thankless, but that ultimately doesn't get ignored or go unnoticed. It also makes the breaks all the more rewarding.
The other thing that I've learned these past few months is that I couldn't have done it without others. As someone that doesn't like asking for favors and tends to be individualistic, there's no way I could have gone through these past few months without my family, friends, and God. The trials of life have a way of reminded us how much we're loved and cared about by others. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the importance of friends - and I truly am thankful for them. They have been rock stars over the past few months. It was nice to celebrate my birthday with some of them last week. As King Solomon once wrote, there's nothing better than eating with friends in the time that we have (multiple verses in Ecclesiastes).
One other thing that I've learned these past few months came through the song "How You Live". The song echoes Ms. Frizzle's motto of "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy". The song talks about how it's not about the people you know or what you did, but about how you live your life. It talks about doing the small things that bring you joy or things that you'll be glad you did later on in your life. It also reminds me of the phrase "it's not whether you win or lose, it's about how you play the game". A person can do a lot of great things or know a lot of great people, but if the way they live doesn't reflect that, it doesn't matter. We can do a lot of things, but if we never truly live and are just merely living, we'll regret that.
To close, as I've reflected on all that's been going on, I've realized that through it all, I'm still standing - and I'm better off because of it. I've learned a lot that will help me out moving forward. I wasn't fully ready for it all, but I'm better off from it - and will be more prepared for trials life brings. When I left work on Thursday to head home to Virginia, I found myself smiling on the walk home, not just because I would be home late that night, but because after all that had been going on I felt like I had made it through. Am I fully ready for all that's in store moving forward? Well, there's only one way to find out. But in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with optimistically saying what Spongebob always says: I'm ready.
Sometimes in life, we may say or believe that we're ready for something...only to realize that we weren't ready. We may have been overconfident, we may have underestimated what was in store, we may not have fully understood what was in store, or there simply was no way to fully be ready. As a nod to old Nationwide commercials (pre-Peyton Manning and Brad Paisely, of course), life comes at you fast. Life doesn't wait until you're "ready" for something - it happens whether you're ready or note.
In a way, it is all like "hide and seek" in the sense that life is the seeker and says "ready or not, here I come". When that's said, we may have a great hiding spot picked out or are frantically looking to find spot. Nevertheless, we are inevitable found by the seeker that is life, no matter how good our hiding spot is. We may be able to hide from it for a little while, but we never can long-term.
We don't get to decide when we face trials in life. Life (and more specifically God) decides when we face trials in our lives - whether or not we're ready. There are limits to being ready for something. It's one thing to prepare for a test or an interview and be ready for that. It's quite another thing to be ready for situations that pop up and require immediate action. And even for events that we can prepare for, it's hard to truly be ready for every single question or scenario. With life, sometimes the best way to learn is trial by fire. Another way to put: getting pushed into the deep end of the pool - and without the floaties, too.
Over the past few months, I've come to learn that life has a way of happening all at once. Instead of pacing crazy events, life throws them at you all at the same time. It can be pretty overwhelming when that all happens, especially when there isn't the luxury of easing in to something, but having to take it all head on. This leads to inevitable mistakes, frustrations, and of course plenty of stress. There also is the frustration of thinking that a problem has been taken care of...only to find out that it is back and even worse than initially imagined. One thing I'm reminded of when this happens is in Hercules when Hercules cuts off the monster's head and thinks the battle is over...only for the monster to come back and now have three heads. It is in those life situations that a Herculean effort is unexpectedly required (terrible and dramatic pun intended).
Life can be hard. Work can get pretty crazy during busy seasons, people will leave and change jobs, new projects or roles will come up, and all of this can lead to a lot of hours worked, stress, and frustrations. There can also be this wondering if the busyness will ever slow down and fear that it never will. On top of that, life can throw all sorts of unexpected challenges and problems at you, too. The issues that life throws at you outside of work end up being worse because they're much more difficult to escape than just leaving the office. There may not be a worse feeling than thinking a situation can't get any worse and then realize that it has. Like work, there becomes that lingering question if the situation will ever get better or fully resolved. The answer is that it usually will, but it can take longer than we want it to.
The trials life throws at us can teach us a lot. They say that life is 10% what happens and 90% how we react to what happens. If that is indeed the case, there's a lot that can be learned from that pesky 10% that does happen. Through these trials, we can learn a lot and grow from them. We end up better off because of those trials, not in spite of them. And, when we do go through unexpected events, we do end up better prepared and ready the next time a similar event comes up in our lives.
I've learned a lot these past few months, more than I can fully put into words. One thing that's been made pretty clear to me is I need to work on 90% of life. You know, how I react to the 10% that does happen. With that, it means taking care of myself, setting boundaries at places like work, knowing my limits/bandwidth, and doing small things for myself, like going for a walk, getting dinner with friends, or taking a trip to Virginia to see family. Okay, the last one isn't as small, but it's still pretty important - and timely. Another thing that I've learned is that the importance of staying true to yourself and doing the right thing. With that, I've also found there to be a value in being transparent with others and coming clean. It's better to tell the truth and explain yourself right away than have others find out later or on their own. When you do that, people take notice. Doing the right thing and working hard may feel thankless, but that ultimately doesn't get ignored or go unnoticed. It also makes the breaks all the more rewarding.
The other thing that I've learned these past few months is that I couldn't have done it without others. As someone that doesn't like asking for favors and tends to be individualistic, there's no way I could have gone through these past few months without my family, friends, and God. The trials of life have a way of reminded us how much we're loved and cared about by others. A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog post about the importance of friends - and I truly am thankful for them. They have been rock stars over the past few months. It was nice to celebrate my birthday with some of them last week. As King Solomon once wrote, there's nothing better than eating with friends in the time that we have (multiple verses in Ecclesiastes).
One other thing that I've learned these past few months came through the song "How You Live". The song echoes Ms. Frizzle's motto of "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy". The song talks about how it's not about the people you know or what you did, but about how you live your life. It talks about doing the small things that bring you joy or things that you'll be glad you did later on in your life. It also reminds me of the phrase "it's not whether you win or lose, it's about how you play the game". A person can do a lot of great things or know a lot of great people, but if the way they live doesn't reflect that, it doesn't matter. We can do a lot of things, but if we never truly live and are just merely living, we'll regret that.
To close, as I've reflected on all that's been going on, I've realized that through it all, I'm still standing - and I'm better off because of it. I've learned a lot that will help me out moving forward. I wasn't fully ready for it all, but I'm better off from it - and will be more prepared for trials life brings. When I left work on Thursday to head home to Virginia, I found myself smiling on the walk home, not just because I would be home late that night, but because after all that had been going on I felt like I had made it through. Am I fully ready for all that's in store moving forward? Well, there's only one way to find out. But in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with optimistically saying what Spongebob always says: I'm ready.
This past weekend I went home to Virginia. It was nice and restful.
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