What Happens When Life Doesn’t Go to Plan?
I never planned for any of this. It just happened. One universal bread crumb at a time. Fresh out of my post-grad studies in 2007 I had intentions to heal the world as the best naturopath I could be. Fast forward 17 years and here I am, writing to you as I stare at a collection of new paintings ready to be varnished. Not to mention, 7 years and counting, my unplanned career as a stylist with my photographer partner.
And I ruffled some feathers with that one.
For me, life has rarely gone to plan. In fact, it’s happened so often now I relish in the constant questioning of ‘what the hell am I doing?’ with a shrug as my profound answer. And laugh it off. Because no one really knows what they're doing. At least on a human level. That’s the beautiful thing. If we did, life would be so incredibly dull, predictable and mundane. We’d never learn, evolve and grow. Which to me, is why our soul’s incarnate here in the first place.
My friends and colleagues were somewhat shocked when I began posting my artworks online, one of them exclaiming in disbelief “since when do you paint!?” To which I replied “well umm, I do now. Is it really that hard to believe?”
So many of us are locked into this notion that we do one thing and one thing only in life. We learn a skill, a trade, a role in a job; we earn income in that skill and hopefully one day we retire from that thing. If you’re lucky, the thing is something you love to do.
Why are we conditioned to delude ourselves into thinking we know the answer to “what the hell am I doing?”. Why on earth would we want to create so much limitation to ourselves so that we create the very thing that stops us from evolving?
My point being, we as humans have so much incredible potential in many many things. Not the ‘one thing’ but many things. And the more we embrace and encourage one another to express these aspects and explore new unfamiliar territory, the more it will become normalised that a person's linear life is full of various skills learnt, creative expressions, mistakes made but lessons learnt, and most importantly more soul fulfillment and joy for trying.
Art for me is exactly this. It’s an expression of joy, a deeply fulfilling practice with so many mistakes made and constant learning. I want to stay in this space of not knowing what I’m doing, because that’s where the magic is. That’s where the soul's expression comes through, where consciousness collapses waves into particles. Never do I ever want to delude myself into thinking I know what I’m doing. I want the surprise. I want the awe.
So having never planned for any of this, I am so glad life surprised me. Had I stayed and developed my career as the naturopath I desired to become, I may have fulfilled some parts of myself but I would NEVER have unveiled this deeply creative, spiritually rich life I’ve come to discover.
So my question to you is this,
Where in your life could you let go of planning so much, and let life take the reins for a bit? Step into something new and unfamiliar. What would that feel like? To let life surprise you and lead you somewhere you least expect?