knowing your purpose while also letting the universe guide you
My whole life I’ve been a planner. I make a to-do list and probably have three different calendars I use every day. Sometimes my days go as planned and I get the satisfaction of crossing off every item on a purple post-it note or on my notion page; But most of the time, our days do not go as planned. Maybe you wake up late and miss your morning workout or your mom needs you to run errands with her or you feel physically/mentally exhausted and can’t do all that you planned. My day not going as planned used to really upset me and sometimes it still does, because let’s be honest, it does suck when things come up and what was going to be a productive day feels sort of ruined. But I heard this great quote from a teacher: “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.” Ever since I heard it, the quote really stuck with me because it also goes along with “life is what you make of it.” So maybe the day didn’t go as planned, but you get to decide how you react to that. Will you let it throw off your whole mood or will you still make it a great day? Not all great amazing things are planned anyway. So, yes it’s important to have a plan and not totally fly by the seat of your pants, but it’s also important to learn when to go with where the day takes you.
This is a lesson I have been really trying to apply to my life as a high school senior with big life changes happening. As I said before, I have always been a planner. I was in sixth-grade buying books on the ACT and college admissions. Maybe part of that was my untreated anxiety, but I like to think it was also me knowing from an early age what I wanted in life. I wanted a perfect score on the ACT and to get into Harvard or some amazing university. But life doesn’t always go as we planned. In my junior year, I was preparing for the ACT getting 36s on practice tests when I began my very long journey with chronic illness. I was never able to take the ACT without being in pain from chronic migraines. This long journey with chronic pain will have its own dedicated post, but it’s important to this lesson I learned. For a while, I was severely depressed about feeling like all my plans were thrown out the window and my high school experience did not go as planned. But I think back to that quote and focus on how I react to the things that happen to me. Either I can bitch and complain, which is necessary for the healing process and I did a lot of for a while, or I can react to it in a positive light. The college application process has been the same. In the beginning, I had lots of anxiety and stress over where I would end up and prayed I would get into my top choices. Now though, while I of course still want to get in, I realize that I will end up where I am supposed to be. Maybe I won't get into my number one school, but maybe it’s because I will meet my soulmate or have a greater opportunity at another school. I know in my heart I will be happy wherever I am and make the most out of it, so now it is in the hands of fate.
My path to my destination in life might change but I will still end up where I am supposed to be. I will still know my purpose and calling. I am not complacent in my journey but I choose to trust in the universe to lead me where I need to be. So maybe our day or our life hasn’t gone as planned, but that doesn’t mean all hell has broken loose. Maybe we were meant to take a detour to learn a lesson or to take a moment for rest. My detour showed me that I want to work in pediatric medicine, which is a story for a later post. Life is a bumpy road with many different paths to take, some harder than others, and some ending up in the same place. Choose to enjoy the path that is meant for you and you only while never forgetting what you feel called to. Maybe you don’t know the destination just quite yet or maybe your destination changes mid-route. That’s totally okay. Know you will end up where you are meant to be and enjoy the scenery on whatever path you are on because you will only pass by it once.
