Discovered Article Resonates Just As Strongly After Seven Years(Just Like Many Others)
Written almost seven years ago to the date, this article by Jamie Varon still resonates so profoundly to many who may come across it all of these years later. If people feel they are falling behind, Varon reminds them they don’t necessarily need to sprint to get back in some game. Yes, competition and pushing one’s self to new levels are super-important. But life is not just about competition with other people. And oftentimes when you are not where you anticipated yourself to be, you are actually exactly where you need to be.
You don’t get to game the system of your life. You just don’t. You don’t get to control every outcome and aspect as a way to never give in to the uncertainty and unpredictability of something that’s beyond what you understand. It’s the basis of presence: to show up as you are in this moment and let that be enough.
I love this part of the piece. The vast majority of things are beyond our control and understanding. Oh goodness, it took me so much to learn this in my own life(at least I am in the process of learning it more now). I had my near-term future plotted out by the time I’d graduated high school. I won’t go into how that bridge collapsed right as I tried to build it in college, or how a carefully crafted subsequent trail deviated to corners never expected. But when I learned to be present and self-affirming in the reality I found myself in, I discovered a rich life with so many unlimited blessings I had never imagined before. Not only did I find fulfillment in my personal life, marriage, and relationships to family and friends but in my professional and service roles I have been able to find ways to make a lasting impact and help others in immeasurable ways. This was the deeper goal I’d started out with — fulfilled in unique, unexpected ways. And at 38, I find I am still just beginning.
You don’t need more motivation or inspiration to create the life you want. You need less shame around the idea that you’re not doing your best. You need to stop listening to people who are in vastly different life circumstances and life stages than you tell you that you’re just not doing or being enough. You need to let timing do what it needs to do. You need to see lessons where you see barriers
My oh my, this part jumps out as well. This is one of those lessons all the schooling in the world may not be able to teach. Super difficult it is to see lessons where barriers lie, until life requires us to see the unlimited promises in stressful situations. Soon we can learn to see the lessons and make the most of hidden opportunities. We all experience this in different forms through the different parts of our lives.
I can’t take that cruise I wanted this year due to costs or events coming up or some public emergency, but this allows me to save up for an even better trip in a couple years and for a nicer, closer-to-home excursion now.
I didn’t get that position I interviewed for, but this compels me to work harder in my current role and prepare for new opportunities that may come along.
The excessive demands at work kept me from seeing my kids’ sports events or spending extra time with my spouse, but with the extra pay I’m earning I will save up for a nice long extra special family vacation.
In addition to what is hidden in barriers, are there lessons and opportunities that arise when unimaginable hardships, disasters, or other unthinkable ordeals lead to much of our worlds crashing down around us? What about a tragic death of a loved one, a horrid disease, a break in a close relationship, or even a serious transgression bringing irreparable harm? Yes, as so many of our spiritual traditions attest, light will constantly triumph over the darkness. Love, hope, forgiveness, and life will not only endure, but transform as “the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone” (Matthew 21:42).
Yes! Indeed! What an amazing article from Jamie Varon, still resonating to readers seven years after publication. Just like countless other insights and lessons offered in billions of other works that have been produced throughout the ages in countless forms, these insights and deeper truths will never stop resonating.
