The Ups and Downs of Life Are Chaotic Yet Beautiful
January 27, 2023
I would never trade my beautiful and chaotic life for anything else in the world. In this blog, I’ll give you my own reasons why you should neither.
Wondering why you should read it? Here is the ‘WIIFY‘.
In the hustle and bustle of life, sometimes it is necessary to take a break for a while, take a deep breath, look around and think about the simple things in life.
Before being students, working professionals, CEOs, businessmen, gig workers, wage earners, homemakers, parents, children, friends, strugglers, leaders, influencers, seekers, Xs, Ys and Zs….. we are all humans. Trust me, we are all the same deep down!
So, as you keep reading this, I hope that you will realize that we’re all in this together!
The Hustles in the Mind
The hustle and bustle within your head, the choices that you make, and the ceaseless struggle between the heart and the mind sometimes make life chaotic. You may wonder what to do and where to go, the roads may seem complicated and the destination is unclear. It is totally OK to feel overwhelmed sometimes.
Our minds are busy places with countless thoughts coming to us at all times. But life’s beauty lies in this hustle. Our fears, worries, and restlessness keep us alive.
Life has always been uncertain and full of unpredictability. You just did not realize it. Embrace it. Do not fight it. The most crucial step in learning to live in the world of today is acceptance. Stop trying to force order and perfection into an imperfect life filled with ups and downs.
You cannot control the chaos. But, you can change yourself… your thoughts, and your actions. And that is really good news…to focus on what you CAN control..you!
Many of us refrain from pursuing our relationships, business ideas, or personal goals because we are unsure of how things will turn out tomorrow. We waste so much time trying to ensure that the path we choose is the “right one” when the reality is that THERE’S NO RIGHT PATH…JUST THE ONE YOU’RE ON!
Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. In some ways, that is a GOOD THING since the walls around us move constantly. You and I have just as great a shot as anybody at success and happiness.
So let go of trying to predict the future and instead CREATE moments by pursuing your goal in the here and now. The only moment you can be certain of is this one right now.
The Heart v/s the Brain
The best friends when together and the most annoying enemies when they are not are the heart and the brain.
Yes, they equally love you and want the best for you but in their own different ways. The heart is a free spirit, daring and wild but emotional to the core whereas the brain is a meticulous, sensible, and practical phenomenon that calculates moves and the consequences to direct you rationally.
The heart follows the vibe, it is intuitive. The brain follows logic. That is how these two always try to instruct you what to do. Sometimes they agree with each other and your life is sorted but when they don’t, you’re up for some serious trouble. Not really major, but yes that’s beautiful chaos!
The heart is intuitive and follows the vibe. The brain adheres to logic. These two always try to instruct you what to do in this manner. When they do, your life is usually sorted out, but when they disagree, you could be in big trouble. Not particularly significant, but sure, that’s lovely chaos!
Taking a step forward in any direction makes you feel like you have some level of control over your life. When you take action, you stop overthinking and get less anxious because, in some sense, you are creating your own future in the here and now.
You get a rush when you’re consumed with activity geared towards pursuing a goal, irrespective of how tough the goal is. You feel like you’re in charge again because you are….of your thoughts and your actions.
The positive energy generated by the movement of hands and body in a forward motion towards the pursuit of a higher purpose, a lifelong trip, a business goal, or raising a child, is often what keeps us energetic, youthful, and feeling alive.
Like a stone thrown into a pond of water, somehow one tiny little step forward puts in motion other pieces, rippling away, leading you to places, people, and opportunities that you can never have imagined. You didn’t get to where you are right now by your perfectly laid-out plans years ago.
The Beautiful Chaos
Chaos is generally seen as a problematic situation that leaves you tensed or worried. But that’s not really the case with life. The chaos that you’re in could be anything — how do I earn more? when do I settle?, what do I buy?, where do I go? what’s the best way to do this? and a million other questions.
They have the power to make things really exhausting but the beauty of it all is that you have a purpose. Your chaos is leading to something that’s going to make you live a meaningful life. Don’t get overwhelmed by the chaos, embrace it.
The mind is a muscle and likes any muscle sometimes the mind needs resistance and tension to grow and develop as much as it needs nourishment and positive energy.
Use the chaos of life to learn and develop. Adversity forces you to dig down deep inside to make you rediscover your inner strength or to fire synapsis in your brain that creates new learnings. Moving forward in uncertainty forces the potential energy that is already within you to come out.
You don’t know what real strength lies within unless you’re put in a situation that forces you to bring it out. You have an innate ability deep within to adapt and improvise to our new environment. You can handle it because your DNA has gone through a history of difficult times and has progressed ever since.
As human beings, we have this awesome ability to persevere in really difficult times with nothing more than what we’ve been given: an able body and a strong mind. The resiliency inside all of us is dormant but kicks in when we move forward in life.
The Bigger Things
Within each of us lies a potential for great things. Think about the possibility of becoming who you really want to become…a better parent, a more successful business person who creates jobs for many, a better spouse or partner or simply contributing more to society.
This great person will never be realized unless you take steps to move forward in life and do something different…to accept the chaos and move forward anyway. All of us are meant to create a positive impact on all those around us, in our own unique way.
When you embrace the chaos and move forward in life, you get crystal clear as to what makes you more fulfilled, more satisfied, and ultimately, happier.
Self-discovery and self-realizations happen during moments of confusion, clutter, and consistent complexity when you’re feeling lost and headed for trouble.
That’s when your mind gets really clear as to what’s the most important thing you want out of life. Because the mind cannot focus on all of those things, your mind suddenly awakens and hones in.
For some of us, a big challenge or adversity that seems insurmountable at the time jolts us to recognize what we really want. And for some people, it becomes less about the money…and more about the relationships, the family, the kids, and good health.
Humility is a wonderful thing and for some of us, it only comes when we’re forced to deal with something life-changing. When you accept the ups and downs and the uncertainty of life, you begin to be grateful for what you have and not dwell on what you don’t.
The joy and happiness that comes from appreciating what you have added fuel to the fire already burning inside to achieve your lifelong goals. You’ll only realize how great of a life you have when you wake up and see the realities of our existence. Being grateful makes you so much happier for the smallest things.
The Life
So many of us arrived where we are through the zig-zag motion of life, through stepping stones that were laid out all over the place. People say, “things have a way of working out in the end” because it is often so true. Perhaps not always, but there’s a reason why it is a commonly used phrase.
For me, in a strange way, you have to have some level of faith perhaps a belief that the accidents that happen in life are there to teach us something.
To shape our life, to shape our core beliefs, to make us who we are. When you’re in the thick of uncertainty and chaos at work or in your personal life, it’s hard to see but think of all the times in your past, when you thought it was really, really bad…and maybe it really was…but often it isn’t as bad as we think and things work out.
Sometimes difficult, unpredictable, and terrible experiences awaken us to the realities of our existence often encouraging us to get on with work we have been waiting to do. Whether we like it or not, it forces us to make difficult choices and take bold steps forward in life.
And we might have to go through these difficult times in order to truly transform into the kind of person we want to become. Once you actually embrace uncertainty and go ahead with a life goal or a relationship, you begin to change, discovering new things about yourself.
You begin to value different things in life…to have deeper, richer conversations with friends, colleagues, and family. To find real meaning and joy in the smallest things. Like a caterpillar, you transform into a butterfly.
Embracing the Chaos
“What’s the point?”, you may ask. It’s such an uncertain world out there. I mean, “It all looks so bleak. Why should I even bother to try to move forward in life or my career? Why should I try to improve my circumstances when I don’t think it will lead anywhere? Why should I try anything in this crazy, uncertain, unpredictable, and difficult environment?”
For me, EMBRACE THE CHAOS means: To ACCEPT the uncertainty of life and move forward anyway! Take action despite not knowing how things will turn out.
To stop overthinking, stop over analyzing, stop trying to predict. To go ahead, take action, move forward in life, move forward in a new career, take new action, start a new business, get into a new relationship and stop overthinking whether or not it will work.
You have one life, accept it as if it’s your own. Celebrate each day with all its offerings — the good, the bad, and the ugly. Learn to loosen up and enjoy each moment with yourself or those who matter to you. Then you’ll fall in love with the beautiful chaos that life offers.
Happy Living!
Nuwan Samarapathi
Nuwan Samarapathi is a NLP Coach, Motivational Trainer, and Self-help author.
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