Have you ever looked back at your life and thought, “I’m so glad that it happened! Just when everything was starting to fall apart, it came together.”
Like the time when you lost your job.
You spent so many years dreading it, trying to live up to all the expectations. And as it turned out, in a series of unfortunate events, you got laid off. It felt like your life was coming to an end. But you took this as an opportunity to open the coffee shop that you always dreamt of. With a little bit of luck, your coffee shop became a huge hit. And life, you thought, couldn’t get any better. Being sacked was not a curse, but a blessing in disguise.
What we believe to be fortunate could be unfortunate and what we believe to be unfortunate may be fortunate(Nova Effect). There’s no way of knowing beforehand what is good or bad for us, as life can only be understood backwards.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves moving through life, trying to make sense of the present while pondering about the future. We plan, anticipate and prepare ourselves to find some measure of certainty in this vast uncertain stream of existence. But in reality, the outcome of a certain event often eludes us until we reflect upon the past.
No matter how much we try to control the course of events, it’s never going to happen the way we want it to. This is the illusion of control — our life rarely adheres to meticulously crafted plans and the outcomes we perceive as negative or positive may turn out to be the opposite.
This idea is daunting — Will we ever make the right decision?
We may.
We may not.
But if we live life anticipating the consequences of every action, when will we start living?
No one can predict the future. Our foresight is an open book with endless possibilities. But our hindsight, on the other hand, is a 10/10. We can look back and ponder upon the choices we made, the paths we took and the consequences that unfolded. We can discern the patterns and connections that were invisible to us at the moment, gaining clarity as we trace the footprints of our past.
It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of activity and lose sight of the bigger picture. But when we pause and take a moment to think about the decisions that led us here, we begin to grasp the wisdom that comes from hindsight.
We begin to see the threads that connect seemingly disparate moments and experiences, as well as the lessons learned within the struggles and setbacks. We learn to recognize the growth that occurred and the strength that was forged through the darkest of times. And as every piece of the puzzle falls into place, a beautiful realization dawns upon us.
The key to unlocking the future is in the past.
We are imperfect beings navigating an imperfect world. It is through failures that we learn, evolve and ultimately, become who we are.
So let us take the time to reflect on our journey, to learn from the past and to grow as individuals. Let’s embrace the wisdom that comes from understanding life backwards.
For, even in tragedy, there is good luck.
Pshh pshh…
Guess what?
Every time I need to dig into my own mind, I feel like I need a friendly voice to help me out. So I created something, a podcast, that will have all my blogs as part of an audio library I can go back to. And if I’m being honest, these episodes have helped me more than anyone. So if you’d like to keep revisiting these thoughts and listen to more of my content, you can head to my podcast, Within 5 Minutes, which serves as an audio library for these blogs — https://linktr.ee/hacchuu. Don’t worry, it is available on all your favourite streaming platforms!
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