August 23, 2020 

There is this anonymous quote that says, “Timing is everything. If it’s meant to happen, it will, at the right time, and for the right reasons.” In life, we will have countless experiences – some of which are quite literally life-altering, and we will watch people come and go out of our lives, either by nature or by force. Many of these experiences will stitch lasting imprints into the very fabric of who we are, for better or for worse. Sometimes people even leave, only to reappear back into our story again when the time is right. Thus, spans the prolific – and at times, maddening – feature encompassing the unanswerable reality surrounding the grand notion we refer to as “timing.” 

The thing about life is you cannot force things. I’ve learned that the hard way, and more than once. It’s typically best to just let it be and just see how the chips fall. Sometimes you simply must let people leave, even though you don’t know why. Life is an endless series of choices, with each decision altering an unforeseen future. That can be quite anxiety-inducing, if we really meditate on it to that extent. However, it doesn’t have to incite fear or apprehension. No matter what happens, things always seem to have this strange way of working themselves out, even if it’s not in the way we initially envisioned. Therefore, it is most often not worth the stress and trauma we place upon our shoulders as we try to figure out why something happened if it was not an outcome that we ourselves could have controlled. Sometimes it was simply timing and circumstance. Other times it was a random event which led to additional probabilities. Certain stories must conclude – or at least be suspended – to leave room for others. 

Kenny Roger’s song The Gambler spotlights this notion surrounding the importance of knowing when something has run its course and it is time to let go: 

You gotta know when to hold ‘em, 

know when to fold ‘em, 

know when to walk away 

know when to run. 

If you haven’t been stung by the happenstance of unfortunate timing, you are an exception to the rule. I think if someone puts themselves out there and sees what this world has to offer, this is not an “if” but rather, a “when”. So perhaps your time is still coming or maybe there are some invisible walls in play with this. Or maybe you’re just extremely lucky – or quite possibly, that you have it all figured out much better than I do. If any of this resounds true with you, I hope I’ve helped spark within you whatever this was supposed to. Alternatively, if this is not applicable to you, perhaps it will be one day, or maybe you are on another path of enlightenment than I am. After all, I am not one to judge, because of that I have no right. There is this phrase that some who know me well will often hear me say which is, “You do you, I’ll do me”. After all, there are no real right or wrong answers because not one of us is here living our lives with everything all figured out. I do think we’re just all trying to do our best, with whatever we can. For me personally, I have discovered that the more I figure out in life, the more I uncover how little in reality that I really know. What a grand paradox life veritably is, indeed. 

We tempt fate with many careless games. 

With people having hearts and faces having names. 

It is the risks we take which are the grandest game. 

And at the end of the journey we realize why we came. 

Sometimes one little, seemingly inconsequential moment will make us stop in our tracks as one of those moments that lit a spark. That one fractional moment sometimes presents us with a glimpse into multiple possibilities, or other dimensional forms our future could take on. This is what people often refer to as turning points, forks in the road, reaching a crossroads, and so on. It is not a new or little-known concept, and it bears granting reflective thought, because it truly matters. Yes, it can be uncomfortable and sometimes even a little (or very) scary, but we all need to confront our individual realities in life head-on if we are going to face the future with any hope of survival. We each are the architects of the lives we curate. Sometimes other people try and interject what they think is the right answer, and they very often do this in the spirit of well-meaning intention. However, at the end of the day we’re all perfectly imperfect beings, and we each must live our own lives ourselves and deal with the after-affects of whichever decisions we make. Because of this, it is crucial that we make all final decisions ourselves. 

Listen to your gut, because it’ll steer you in the right direction. There is scientific thought to support a reliance upon intuition, particularly when used in balanced conjunction with rational, analytical thought. This is most particularly relevant when making personal decisions about one’s own life. This may not always lead into the direction you wanted or the result you thought you preferred, but interestingly, historically it proves to push you right onto the path you are meant to traverse. When you simply “know” something but have no idea why or how you would even know it, that can be a way of the universe, or of God – or of something, anyway – nudging you. First, just listen. Then give yourself a bit of time to sit and think on it, pray to God (or wherever your beliefs stand) on it, and figure out what it means to you and your life, now and going forward. Random events aren’t always so random, it seems. 

I sat in this foggy road for a moment or two, 

Seeing the many varied lives that could become true. 

Up or down or left or right, the direction is not set. 

Hands of time cannot reverse, so I won’t live in regret. 

When the timing is off in life and all seems lost, remember there is always another season. We still don’t know how this thing ends. 

~ CKW