Author: Fallton Havenstonne

When we’re getting by, we’re not pursuing lofty goals or dreams, nor even striving for peace or happiness. We’re just trying to make it through the day. Keep afloat. Trying to make it to work on time, eat a decent lunch, finish up the day’s work. There’s nothing spectacular or special about it. It’s like trying to balance an equation to what equates to normal. Keeping everything together, more or less.

It can be a day filled with hurdles–obstacles that don’t really seem like obstacles to anyone else but us. Things like packing up lunch or trying to make coffee before we head off to work when we have 5 minutes to leave. And on the road, it’s the challenge of beating traffic, snaking through lanes so that we don’t get stuck at a red light. We don’t even have time to enjoy the moment, to smell the roses.

And when the work day is done, even picking up groceries or driving back home can be a challenge. A challenge compounded by exhaustion, fatigue, and the stress we’ve undergone by deadlines and tedious, voluminous work. There’s no chance of getting a moment to relax. Everything is go go go.

And when the sun falls, and the night settles in, we’re still wide awake, stressed about tomorrow. Stressed about getting by–making it another day when it seems like everyone else has it together.

When our day is amiss, it’s like everything’s going wrong, and things our out of step with our normal routine. Maybe we started off the day waking up late. Maybe the computer stopped working. Maybe there was unexpected traffic–delaying our trip to work by minutes.

Whatever the case may be, it makes things more difficult than they ought to be. We tense up, feel annoyed or upset by how things are going. But it doesn’t stop there. The number of things that go amiss begin to snowball and get worse. There’s little we can do to change it as well.

But one thing I often do when things go amiss is to look at the opportunities that are presented. I look at it as a test, a trial–something that upsets the balance of my stable world. So if I’m stuck in traffic, I look at it as an opportunity to straighten out my chaotic thoughts–think about what I need to do for the day. If I forget my keys on my way out the door, I make an effort to put them somewhere where I will remember them next time. If leave for work on a day where it’s pouring rain, I’ll prepare for it next time by leaving my umbrella in the car.

Thus, anytime something goes amiss, I look at it as way to prepare, or at least, to reflect on what I need to do or how I can improve things. Things going amiss is inevitable, but the question is, how will we address it?

Sometimes you wait for something to happen. Hours go by, and then nothing happens.

In life, we have to take action in order to get something done. Whether that’s starting a book, a DIY project at home, cleaning up and organizing things, or even planning a vacation. To get something done, you have to take action. The project on our “To Do List” isn’t going to start it itself.

We might procrastinate and tell ourselves that we’ll get to it later. But will we?

Instead, we spend our time idly watching TV, surfing the internet, or playing games on our cellphone. As a result, hours go by, and we’re still where we were when we hadn’t started.

Sooner or later, our “To Do List” begin to pile up. Instead of hours, days go. What have we accomplished? Why have we procrastinated? Is it because of lack of interest, or is it because we’d rather do what comes easier (or is fun) rather than what requires discipline, work?

By letting the hours go, we let days, even weeks, go by. Instead of that, let’s start on our “To Do List” now. One project at a time.

There are times when you wake up hours before the alarm for work goes off. The sun hadn’t even risen yet. It’s still dark outside. You’re more alert than if you had woken up at your scheduled time.

You have a choice to go back to sleep or to get an early start on the day. It’s like you’ve been given a head start, time that you can use to be productive, creative. It’s time that you can use to get ready for work, to organize paperwork, to clean up and organize your place, or to work on a project.

Waking up early doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you have to decide whether to go back to sleep or to get started on your day–with more time to spare. And the ironic thing is, when you go back to sleep, you might wake up feeling more tired than if you had when the alarm went off.

When we wait for an opportunity to come our way, we lose time for the opportunity we have now. When we bide our time, we think that another opportunity–a better one–will be waiting for us. But what about now? What about all the time we are not using while we wait?

Sometimes it is wise to wait when the conditions are not favorable, such as with making an expensive purchase–waiting for the sale (if it is a seasonal item). It might be good to wait if we are not ready, such as if we’re saving up money, or when we don’t see any good opportunities.

But as we wait, we must work on something–look for opportunities. Each day brings them, and if we’re not paying attention, they will go by and never return.

When taking a walk, we can come to a fork in the road that takes us elsewhere. That “elsewhere” can lead us to a different part of the city, forest–wherever we happen to be. If we continue on the original path, we’ll reach our destination without much difficulty or thought. But if we go “elsewhere”, we’ll be taking a leap into the unknown, navigating streets or roads that bring new experiences–keeping us on our toes.

We learn from it by expanding our knowledge of the terrain and the other roads it leads to. This can happen in a city when we take a turn down a new road, or when we travel. On a hiking trail, the other path can lead to a stream, or a scenic viewpoint that shows us the landscape from an angle we didn’t know existed.

We take the other path when the original path has become too familiar, boring. We take it because we need variation and to gain knowledge. Some people might feel comfortable without needing to know what is beyond the hill, but at some point, curiosity will overtake them.