Timing

Timing. It's something that affects our everyday life; short and long term wise. Yet it's something we can't change. We go about our days, live them as best we can and things just happen. You get offered a job, you fall in love, etc. etc. etc. Do all of these events occur when we want? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Most of the time, life is chaotic enough and these opportunities present even more of a challenge.

So do you take it or not? Until recently I approached this situation with the mentality that if the right opportunity came along, I'd just toss it in the mix and I'd figure out how to make it work as we go. Flying be the seat of my pants tended to work out pretty well; at least until I could come up with a plan. Recently though, I've learned the value though of timing. Whether it was a person or a job or a step in life, the time at which these things come into your life determines whether it will work or not. Think about it, you can't take a dream job while you're still in school, you can't be with a person whose on a different page than you. We all have to face it, sometimes you may have the perfect situation, but the timing says it's not feasible. No matter how hard you try to make it work, believe it works and trust in it, it simply will not work. I think it's hard for some people to understand, myself included. I'm a "fixer" by nature. If there is a problem, I want to fix it and move on. For most of my life, I have been able to call the shots and fix things accordingly on my watch. Lately, I've learned that not everything can be handled that way. It's been tough to realize that there are simply things that are beyond my control. There are beyond anyone's control. This is where timing comes in; if all the small intangibles are not aligned perfectly, then something that should work on paper, doesn't in the real world.

There's nothing you can do about it. As powerless as you feel, you have to let go or you have to learn to wait. It's a tough lesson to learn (believe me, patience is not my strong suite) but a necessary one in order to be successful. I love racing analogies so try this one on for size. You may have a car strong enough to the win the race but if you go out and use up everything you have in the first 20 of a 400 lap race, you've got nothing for the long run. What do you do? Back off, adapt to what's going on and when the race gets a little closer to the end, then you can try a little harder.

Given what I know now, there are a few situations that have occurred lately that I wish I would've handled differently but I didn't know any better. Sadly, I think somethings might be gone for good. Learning to wait for the proper timing is sometimes the most difficult lesson of all and one I wished I had grasped sooner.