Expect The UnexpectedWTF?
I'm intrigued by the unexpected.
Actually, I'm intrigued with the fact that people, like me, are continually shocked by the unexpected.
Both good or bad things seem to catch people by surprise, but people seem more surprised when bad things come crashing through the front door.
"Damn, I never expected that," one person will say.
"Wow, who knew?" another will exclaim the moment that life throws a little gorilla wrench into the machinery of a smooth and easy lifestyle.
The unexpected seems to throw us off our game and has us scrambling to get our lives back into some kind of balance.
It's weird. Unexpected things happen again and again, and still we are amazed when life turns left instead of right. You'd think we would learn from our experiences that the unexpected is always lurking around every corner, ready to pop out at a moment's notice and slap a cream pie in our faces. But no, we always seem dumbfounded by life's little ambushes, and we forget to duck.
Of course, when things do go amiss, our more cynical friends will say things like, "Well, what did you expect?" to which, we can only think, "Not that, for crying out loud, not that."
I'm not sure I could count the number of times something unexpected has caught me unaware and flailing to make some sense of it all. Some of those things were just downright stupid, but some were quite hurtful. I have had to do some quick rationalizing on more than one occasion to keep myself from accepting that life may be more chaotic than I believe it to be.
Of course, this brings to mind the question of fate and self-determination, which I should probably leave for another time, but won't.
You see, I can't seem to shake the thought that we are always the authors of our own lives. So, I can't help but wonder how many of these unexpected events in our lives are the result of our own doing. I mean, do we set ourselves up for disappointment, or is it just blind chance that has us running into brick walls of dismay, disgrace, disillusionment, and a whole bunch of other d-words?
Maybe, it's not about cause as much as it is about effect. If disappointment is inevitable, which certainly seems to be the case, maybe it's how we react to that disappointment that matters. Too often people get their proverbial knickers in a knot wondering, "How did that happen?" Maybe what's more important is to untie those same knickers and figure out, "How am I going to deal with this crisis?"
As the saying goes, "shit happens," but it doesn't necessarily follow that "life is shit." Life, it seems, should embrace the ability to get past the "shit." No one, in my experience, stays in a porta-potty, an outhouse, or a gas station washroom any longer than is absolutely necessary. The same should be true of crisis situations in your life. There is always a solution to the problem, and although it may be unpleasant for some of the people involved, the solution is usually pretty obvious. All anyone has to do is apply that solution and move on, hopefully a little wiser and stronger for the next challenge just around the corner of Heartache and Whine.
The Boy Scouts of America promote the motto: "Be prepared." Words to live by, I suspect, but such words of wisdom from the Boy Scouts? Who knew?
I'm intrigued by the unexpected.
Actually, I'm intrigued with the fact that people, like me, are continually shocked by the unexpected.
Both good or bad things seem to catch people by surprise, but people seem more surprised when bad things come crashing through the front door.
"Damn, I never expected that," one person will say.
"Wow, who knew?" another will exclaim the moment that life throws a little gorilla wrench into the machinery of a smooth and easy lifestyle.
The unexpected seems to throw us off our game and has us scrambling to get our lives back into some kind of balance.
It's weird. Unexpected things happen again and again, and still we are amazed when life turns left instead of right. You'd think we would learn from our experiences that the unexpected is always lurking around every corner, ready to pop out at a moment's notice and slap a cream pie in our faces. But no, we always seem dumbfounded by life's little ambushes, and we forget to duck.
Of course, when things do go amiss, our more cynical friends will say things like, "Well, what did you expect?" to which, we can only think, "Not that, for crying out loud, not that."
I'm not sure I could count the number of times something unexpected has caught me unaware and flailing to make some sense of it all. Some of those things were just downright stupid, but some were quite hurtful. I have had to do some quick rationalizing on more than one occasion to keep myself from accepting that life may be more chaotic than I believe it to be.
Of course, this brings to mind the question of fate and self-determination, which I should probably leave for another time, but won't.
You see, I can't seem to shake the thought that we are always the authors of our own lives. So, I can't help but wonder how many of these unexpected events in our lives are the result of our own doing. I mean, do we set ourselves up for disappointment, or is it just blind chance that has us running into brick walls of dismay, disgrace, disillusionment, and a whole bunch of other d-words?
Maybe, it's not about cause as much as it is about effect. If disappointment is inevitable, which certainly seems to be the case, maybe it's how we react to that disappointment that matters. Too often people get their proverbial knickers in a knot wondering, "How did that happen?" Maybe what's more important is to untie those same knickers and figure out, "How am I going to deal with this crisis?"
As the saying goes, "shit happens," but it doesn't necessarily follow that "life is shit." Life, it seems, should embrace the ability to get past the "shit." No one, in my experience, stays in a porta-potty, an outhouse, or a gas station washroom any longer than is absolutely necessary. The same should be true of crisis situations in your life. There is always a solution to the problem, and although it may be unpleasant for some of the people involved, the solution is usually pretty obvious. All anyone has to do is apply that solution and move on, hopefully a little wiser and stronger for the next challenge just around the corner of Heartache and Whine.
The Boy Scouts of America promote the motto: "Be prepared." Words to live by, I suspect, but such words of wisdom from the Boy Scouts? Who knew?
hmmm...seems like we all are pondering over life and its googlies ...but nobody does it quite like you...
ReplyDeleteAh, well, such a long life ... haha ... all those years have to mean something ...
DeleteThe unexpected makes life interesting eh? :)
ReplyDeleteMais oui, madame ...
DeleteIs that "eh?" just for me?
;o}
As hard as it is, sometimes, you just have to tell yourself "it don't mean nothing'," as my ex used to say. Many times, the unexpected should have been expected; other times, you are simply slapped with the proverbial white glove and expected to make your next move.
ReplyDeleteWith the proverbial knickers and now the white glove, we almost have a complete wardrobe ... ;o}
Deleteshit does happen, most of us will figure out how to get out of it when it does but there are those few who like to wallow in it...
ReplyDeleteI get tired of hearing those "woe is me" stories, in fact one day I might tell someone, hey if you can't find anything good to blog about may I please make something up for you?
Oh dear ... still?
Delete"No one, in my experience, stays in a porta-potty, an outhouse, or a gas station washroom any longer than is absolutely necessary. " LMAO....so true......u crack me up! gm :)
ReplyDeleteGM, Ms Nightingale ...
Delete"You'd think we would learn from our experiences that the unexpected is always lurking around every corner, ready to pop out at a moment's notice and slap a cream pie in our faces."
ReplyDeleteI got a cream pie in my face for my 40th birthday. Although it was unexpected, to everyone else's surprise, I was not as surprised as they had expected I would be, so they were unexpectedly surprised to be disappointed.
~M
Haha ... yes, I think I follow your logic ... it's always great to turn the tables back on those who expect your lack of expectation to be the source of their pleasure ...
DeleteA couple of years ago something I did not expect to happen, happened. At first I was pretty close to being devastated and it did take me awhile to wade through the aftermath, but looking back at it now, it was the best unexpected thing that ever happened to me. So sometimes the unexpected can be a good thing even when it seems bad at the moment.
ReplyDelete