unexpected definitions

The definition of who a person is comes from a lot. Their past maybe is part of it, or their dreams for the future. How they think, how they laugh, how they move. What they love doing. However, I think a lot of people miss how important the unexpected is in defining who you are.

Part of a person is how they react to the unexpected.

• How does that job feel, that you didn’t believe you would get? Do you embrace it and allow it to grow you, or do you let the guilt eat you from the inside out?
• How does that lost opportunity feel, the one you felt like you knew was going to happen? Do you get lost in the thoughts of what could have been? Do you forget about the things that are or will be?
• What happens when you can’t find your keys right before you have to leave, or when they’re out of 2% milk at the supermarket? Do you carry that frustration through the day?

These are things I’ve been thinking about a lot as I try to navigate the unexpected in my life right now. It’s especially hard when you’ve created a future with yourself and the expected for awhile, building it and tending to it and imagining it, and the unexpected strips it away. It feels like a breakup, a loss. And that’s ok, but controlling reactions is particularly important. Its one of the only things you can control, and therefore one of the only things you can come to expect.