Lost and Found

Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

This quote is kind of like trying to read something when it is being reflected in a mirror- it’s difficult to figure out which is the right way to read it.

This is the way I have learned to feel about unexpected events in my life. In my younger years, when a life event I had not anticipated arrived, my immediate assumption was that it was all wrong. And of course as soon as I made the decision to make it ‘wrong’ I began the fight to make it ‘right.’ Sometimes after a considerable amount of blood, sweat, and tears I would be able to wrangle my life back to whatever spot I thought was ‘right’ – but in hindsight there had always been something lost.

As I near my 5th decade of life, I don’t fight the fates as I once did. I have learned that if a life event arrives- no matter how wrong it may seem- there is an opportunity in it for something good- and sometimes a true gift of an opportunity for something great.

If there is any wisdom I would want to grant to my own children early in their lives it would be this: To embrace the possibility that every unplanned turn in the road can end up being the greatest opportunity of your life. You hear the greats of the world reference this fact all the time- how one tiny twist of fate- a bump in the road that they went with instead of against, changed everything.

Cheers to those ‘nowhere’ spots that life brings to all of us. … because sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.