Victory is found in the reset, not in the smooth sailing

​Wouldn't it be nice, that if we put in enough work, enough effort, enough forward motion, that we could one day land in a place that is predictable. A place we could control. A place where we could always know life is going to be okay.

Ah, the land of no curveballs.

Anyone who's lived much has figured out that's not how life works. There is no such place as everything is going to be okay. At least not by our most desired definitions of okay.

And at least not this side of heaven.

Yet, still, if we're not careful, that's the place we can get hell bent on pursuing. And when we do, we get caught up wishing and hoping and praying for happily ever after instead of embracing our ability to build something out of the not so happy we're currently in.

The older I've gotten, the more I've come to understand life is far more about the bounce back than the settling in. I mean, when does life ever really give us a chance to just settle in and enjoy the ride?

When has the GPS of life rolled on without complications to the destination of our dreams that we've plugged into it?

For me - never.

There have definitely been some smoother periods of life than others, some smoother trips, but every trip I've ever been on has included the Siri of life interrupting and announcing there's an accident up ahead, and we're now going to go in a different direction.

Some of us think victory is overriding Siri and saying, oh no you don't, I'm forging ahead. That was MY destination. You don't get to suggest an alternative.

I spent a lot of my life in that forging ahead mode, denying and rejecting alternative routes.

I like to think I'm much better today at accepting the route change surprises that come my way. I like to think I'm better at not only accepting them, but starting to imagine the unexpected views and experiences I might have along the way of the new route.

I like to think I embrace the opportunity that comes with the unexpected.

But the opportunity doesn't just show up and say here I am, meet your new opportunity. My attitude is the opportunity; it's my decision to let go of the old route and commit to a reset.

Commit to a new way and a new life, with faith Siri knows some things about direction that I don't.

Many of us live very anxious lives. Much of that anxiety comes from not being able to control our directions as much as we'd like.

I get that.

But the cure for that will never be more control.

The cure will be accepting there will always be a lack of control, there will always be curveballs, but when we put our mind to it, we can all become pretty good at hitting curveballs.

Sometimes clean out of the ballpark.

We can good at hitting curveballs and quit dreaming about our ideas of what is next and start embracing the realities of what is next. Because one of the greatest realities of all is: those two things are rarely the same.

Our dream reality and our real reality rarely match up.

So we get to pick; get good at dreaming or get good at resetting.

Victory is found in the resetting.

Life may throw you a curveball today. Don't reject the pitch.

Hit it!!