Life Happens. What will you do about it?

Life happens.

Not too long ago, in a parents’ meeting at Little Man’s school, the facilitator asked us parents stroke guardians to think about what we had wanted to be when we were the exact same age as our children were at the time.

There was a shocked silence.

You could see some of the attendees wilt in their chairs; some of us had faraway looks, others stared at their feet. Talk about uncomfortable.

“Sooooo…..did you succeed?”

The facilitator wanted to milk the moment for all it was worth. Perhaps to emphasize the importance of this meeting in determining the path of our children’s future careers.

There were murmurs all around.

” Why?! ” He asked in a whiny disappointed melodramatic voice.

As if by prior arrangement, as if by the instruction of one powerful puppet master we all shouted in one voice, in one tone:

“Because life happened!”

This had been towards the end of 2022 and indeed life had happened.

We had buried loved ones, welcomed new babies, moved homes, moved countries, sent children to university, gone through crisis (what is the plural of crisis 😀) switched jobs, got married, got divorced, nursed family through debilitating illnesses. In short….

….. Lived.

I think that, in that school hall that day, each one of us had pondered over the long bridge we had walked between our late teens and now as parents of teens ourselves.

Was life not supposed to have happened?

Had we believed that in order for us to realise the dreams we had wanted as teenagers everything was supposed to stay exactly the same?

I soul searched and researched and asked questions and sought answers; watched videos, listened to faith building messages and there was a uniting theme through out.

You pushed through and forged ahead.

Life happening is life happening.

All the people who we find inspiring, who have made a difference in their own lives and of others… they didn’t let ‘life happens’ get in the way.

Sure, we will have to do some course correcting, weigh pros and cons, revoke certain decisions.  There will be certain goals which will have become irrelevant but the spirit the drive must remain the same. If we are to achieve anything or make anything worthy of our self respect.

I was looking up a mental toughness challenge that had been the rave of social media for quite some time. It involved a series of activities that were to be done every single day without fail. If you missed doing even one activity you went back to day one and started over. It was a challenge to strengthen discipline.

I was intrigued enough to want to see how those who had undertaken it had faded. If they succeeded. Or failed. Whichever the case may be.

One woman documented her journey and stayed committed to the challenge even when her family moved to a different city, even as she nursed a sick child through surgery,  even as she went to work full-time, even as she had to recuperate from a broken finger.

I was blown away by such dedication and commitment to a cause. Life ‘still happened’ but she had refused to let that stop her.

Look around for those who live courageously valiantly inspite of impossible odds and unspeakable horrors.

So what does that mean for you and me?

Is there something you have been wanting to pursue for your greater good but dismissed it as too late, too expensive, too ‘out there’?

Trust me, you do not want to be seated at your child’s career day and wonder ‘where did the time go?’

Start today. Tomorrow you will be so glad you did.

PS: it is wonderful to be back.