It’s been a rough week. I found out a friend of mine committed suicide and it sent me reeling. Not only am I grieving the loss of my friend, but I’m also questioning the meaning of life, what my priorities are, how I’m spending my days, etc. The inconsequential questions, in other words.
I remember this line from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape once in a while. The young character of Arnie, played by a 19-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio, is mentally disabled, but in a moment of innocent clarity, he cheerfully proclaims that “I can go any time you know.”
So true.
Any one of us, right this moment, could die.
Poof.
Life is continuously unfolding before us. Many of us try very hard to direct the course of life’s trajectory, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, no matter how much we try to control, direct and predict where life will take us we can never fully know the future. In fact, the only thing we can count on is that life will definitely present us with unexpected twists and turns; why not learn to embrace the unexpected changes and find comfort in the unknowable future?
Growing means you experience more – and is an amazing, freeing, and expansive experience. You understand the world better. You meet people you never knew you were missing. But an expanded view means you’ll come across some obstacles, too, no longer nestled in the safety of your hometown, family home, or familiar relationship Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.