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Your life: it's all connected.
Growing up we are taught this:
(A)Born -------> (B)School -------> (C)Career/Family/Both ------> (D)Die
It's so simple, a natural linear progression, and everyone does it. What we aren't taught is what that line really looks like when you take a closer look. (I mean really, really close)...
(You'll have to excuse me...I spent forever creating this intensely chaotic diagram, only to find out it didn't transfer when I posted the blog...so, let's just get to it!)
Life is not linear!
Boy do we try to make it that way though. Whew! School...ugh...could we make education any MORE linear? Yet, most of us agree that real education happens when we are inspired, entertained, and often when we don't even know we are being taught!
The "corporate ladder" is not called a LADDER by mistake. You have to "start at the bottom rung" and climb your way up to the top! So, most corporate models are linearly structured (click here for alternative). There is a boss (very important) and then there are managers (pretty important) and then there is the new guy (no cream in my coffee newbie!).
Heck, we even number our year's of existence on the planet. Why?...so that we can force our loved one's to come up with new ways of saying, "Hey...you're still alive...congratulations!"
Yet, does life ever really feel linear?
Google Maps tells you how to get from Point A to Point B...but they don't tell you about running over a screw in the road and blowing out your tire...only to be helped by a tow truck driver named Max whose sister-in-law went to your alma matter...and come to find out...she's looking for an editor for the book she is working on. Hey...you were on your way to a job interview before you got sidetracked. So, you take the job all the way across country with the sister-in-law, only to find out 6 months later you don't want to be an editor, but instead always wanted to open a seashell shop on the boardwalk. Then one day while you are pricing out Formica counter tops for your display table you meet a guy named Lewis who you fall in love with...get married...have three kids...one of whom who goes on to become a professional golfer on the PGA!
Crazy stuff...right? Or is it? Have you ever looked back at your life and written it out in a linear fashion? Maybe your child didn't grow up to become a professional golfer, but I bet the chain of events seems a lot more random when you try to write them out in a sequential manner.
What does this all mean?
We spend most of our lives worrying, sweating, and trying to control its sequence of events. Something none of us can do (even if there is a CEO in front of our name). When things don't go the way we planned, we blame it on chaos or bad luck, never stopping for a second to question or even appreciate the new opportunity before us. But, if we took a moment and thought about where we are today, we can probably look back and see how events that seemed random (even chaotic) at the time, actually helped prepare us for the life we are living now. Am I wrong?
For instance, what does fast food, soccer, parenthood, spirituality, improvisation, anger management, marriage, Organizational Democracy, midwives, juggling, college friends, SpoTJ blogs, and real estate all have in common?
Chaotic...right?
Linearly...yes...they are chaotic! But, when you look at them as a tapestry, or better yet...A SPIDER WEB...they are all connected. Some may hold more impact than others...but they are all connected...and they all make me who I am. Take one of them out of the mix...just one...and my life is probably drastically different. The Web wouldn't be as strong!
It's not clean, it's messy...BUT WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MESS IT IS!!!
There are no "throw-away" events in your life. Everything has value. Every decision teaches you something new. If something didn't work out the way you expected, don't write it off! You never know how the result of that event may help you down the road.
Like life...spirituality is not linear. Sure, there seems to be a "mountain to climb" involving our spiritual growth...but do you think the path to get there is set in stone? Do you think there's a chair lift? Or, are there a lot of paths and secret hideaways that we find along the way?
So, what does your mess (I mean web) look like? Do yourself a favor, sit down right now and write down your life as linearly as possible. If it looks as boring as a straight line...I'll send you $20 and an apology!
V R Y!!
H E G E D
A A AT A
(Have a great day! Okay...that's didn't translate either)
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