Has life thrown you any curveballs the past few years? Does it feel like no matter what you try to plan out something always comes up, or gets in the way of your good intentions? A curveball, by definition, is something unexpected. But how do we deal with these curveballs?
My life has been full of curveballs! If you’ve read my story, you know that I followed, “The Book of Life,” precisely throughout my life until that pivotal PLOT TWIST moment when I realized I had put a check beside every box, yet there were no rainbows and unicorns of happiness surrounding me. Now, don’t get me wrong, there were still positive things in my life. BUT the curveballs were coming faster and more frequently. There came a point when I had checked off all the “to-do’s” on my list. Now what?
This is when the curveballs seemed to intensify. After a certain point in my life, I didn’t have a defined path I could revert back to. It was up to me to decide which path I should take next. I wasn’t prepared, not for all of the decisions. Although I’d been through school and written papers about what I wanted to do when I “grew up”, the honest reality was that I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up.
It was a scary decision back then! (The “growing up” years) It was like signing your name in blood next to a “rest of your life” commitment. In my late teens I was trying to figure out who I even was, much less be able to make a lifelong career commitment.
Did you sign your name in blood? I will admit I did. I committed to a life that I was sure of, at 18. Because at 18 we know it all, right? I committed to a plan for my life that would keep me safe and secure. It was rough out in the real world so I don’t know about you, but I was looking for a comfortable and safe future. I needed security, or so my 18 year old self was convinced.
But what was I setting myself up for? You guessed it…curveball! Because if we get right down to it, they are highly unavoidable.
How do we tackle the curveball?…
Well, we have a few choices.
- We can deny it and keep on keepin’ on right where we are.
- We can embrace it and use it as a life lesson for the future.
Ten years of denial— It is hard to look back and see that it took me almost 10 full years to realize I had been thrown curveballs to help me, not make my life miserable. I needed to adjust my plans, not to continue to try to squeeze water out of a dry rag. And now, the more people I talk to, the more consistently I see this 10 year pattern. It’s almost as if we have to make it to the age of 25 before a lightbulb comes on and we are able to actually see. It’s as if, until then, we are thrown a curveball and continue to swing the bat creating a fly ball each time. We really don’t have control over the pitch or the fly ball. What we do have control over is working on our batting skills, polishing our skills to prepare for a home run!
Now take the next ten years, the years of embracing the curveballs (of polishing our batting skills), of analyzing them, regrouping and reevaluating as necessary. Is it rainbows and unicorns? That’s not exactly the way I’d describe it. It’s still hard work. Is it a sense of truly knowing yourself and increased gratitude for the amazing opportunities we’ve been given? Yes, indeed it is. There’s something about the 2nd Quarter of life where we start to really see who we are and what we are meant to be. Do we have all the answers yet? Do we hit a homerun every time? No, absolutely not. In fact, in my opinion there are more questions now than answers.
This is one of the reasons I started working with others through life coaching. It was a pivotal time for them to figure out who they are and what they want to accomplish. But it’s not enough to just have the dream if you don’t take steps toward it. This is the positive effect I wanted to have an impact on. Now I’m able to help people define their dreams/goals/futures, and create action steps to accomplish them.
We all have curveballs in life. The question is ultimately– how will you choose to deal with them?
And as for the screwballs…well, we all know a few. We’ll let that story be for another day.
You got this!
-Amber
P.S. If you need some help tackling some curveballs in your life, leave me note in the comments, or email me directly at Amber@MyQ2Life.com. It would be great to hear from you. Whatever you do, practice embracing the curveballs, learn from the fly balls, and let the screwballs be…
MyQ2Life 