Don't Ever Get Too Comfortable

In a world that is unpredictable and ever changing, we have to find ways to be prepared for whatever can happen. We live in a time where anyone older than 30 can honestly look back over the course of their lives and be able to say,"Well, I never saw that coming!" The truth is, I was the very last generation to have completely gone through the first 18 years of life without cell phones. Never in million years did we ever expect to have a calculator at our finger tips (I mean our math teachers literally told us that we had to learn adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, trigonometry and calculous via our heads and using paper to write out the problem because we wouldn't always have a calculator on hand, you can bet that all those Math teachers in their 50's+ never imagined we'd have calculators at our finger tips) or be able to have people reach you when you are not at home or work (who remembers those clear colored papers that you'd use numbers to write out messages for your friends to call you when they got home). We never expected print work to become the cavemen times for writers, bloggers and Journalist because never could we have imaged being able to record an entire live news moment from a small handheld device where we could edit in full and release to thousands of millions of people worldwide with a simple touch of a button by posting to apps that, again, we would have never known would be a thing that would change our entire way of socializing.

Technology is only a small fraction of all the things we can honestly look back on and say,"Well, I didn't see that coming!" We never would have seen a political division happen so great that it's as if you play in one side of a a gang or another and anyone in between the two rivalry gangs is almost like being collateral damage because you are in the center of a war so hellacious that no one can hear the thoughts and ideas of those who don't choose one or the other rivalry gangs. On top of that, we have had things like Covid shut down almost the entire world, World Leaders who couldn't keep their lies straight which lead to more division in a nation already torn between political sides. You had religion fighting against all odds to stand their own grounds without politics being front and center. We had people protesting,"I can't breath," and people fighting people over things such as police brutality, the make shift ideology that police should lose funding and that crimes should be acceptable so long as it's not to the highest level of the crime (aka California where you can literally rob banks as long as you don't rob more banks or hurt more people than the criminal with the most bank robberies and murders, am I overexaggerating? Perhaps, but if you know California right now, you may answer that question differently). We have faced a nation where freedom is far from free, where people demand their rights by fighting against those made to protect our rights but are failing to do so. Everyday, we make decisions, we read about what's happening, we have to decipher between truth and lies by our news outlets. Everyday, we wake up to more hate, more violence, more loss of common sense and more lawlessness. We probably think,"wtf?" more times by 7am than what should be acceptable. Yet here we are. In a time where we could never have seen what has come coming.

That's just a small part of the world we are up against. Financial strain and day to day survival is a real struggle for a large part of people around the world (not even just here in America). Let's talk about the astronomical gas prices, an all time economical low, the highest inflation since 1912. Just this summer we saw prices of "goods and services reach a year-over-year rate of 9.1%, the highest since 1981" and with no relief in sight according to economist.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/07/13/economist-no-relief-in-sight-as-inflation-i

With all that is going on, it is no wonder mental health is at it's all time worse for people. We are having to cope, adapt, change, adapt again, find comfort in the new norms, create routines, keep routines, have consistency in a non-consistent world, somehow make enough money to simply survive on and let's be honest, for a great majority of us 30 something year olds, we have finally hit the income level that should have put us in the "upper middle class" or "next tax bracket" and beyond, yet thanks to the economy tanking it's brought us back down to middle-to-lower middle class (thank you oh-so-much Government), we are still stuck struggling while those who were already struggling are no longer even getting by, but are fighting to keep roofs over their heads, food in their stomachs, clothes on their backs and so much more yet have the bare minimum help from the states, disability and retirement. I hear it everyday,"how are we suppose to get by like this?" For some, having a double income has proven sufficient enough but for most, even two incomes have you struggling especially after you factor in the cost of rising fuel, higher car payments, mortgages/rent, oh and don't even get me started on childcare and the cost to make sure your children are in the safest hands and environment they can be. Should I even mention the cost of groceries for a family of 5 muchless a bigger family?

So how are we suppose to take care of ourselves so we are not pouring from an empty glass to take care of our kids, spouses, homes and everything else? How are we suppose to find time to seek counseling, go to Doctors for medications to help us cope with the anxiety of trying to survive in this chaotic world we never saw coming? How do we cope at all or continue to adapt?

Easy right? Or maybe not so easy, but there is a trick to the trade and that's not to get too comfortable. Remember the saying,"Tell God your plans and watch Him laugh?" It's true!!! Just when you think you have all your ducks in a roll, God is going to shake-up your world.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Jeremiah 29:11

The idea is to let go of all your expectations. Let go of everything you thought you would have today. Let go of all the paths you thought you would take. Let everything you thought the future would look like go and learn from those who have come before us who understood that there was comfort and peace in never getting too comfortable.

Alexander Pope wrote,"Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.

Martin Luther King Jr., wrote,"We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope."

Eric Jerome Dickey wrote,"No expectations, no disappointments."

“I’m not in this world to live up to your expectations and you’re not in this world to live up to mine.” ― Bruce Lee

We have gotten too comfortable in our mindset that life should have never changed. That cell phones shouldn't have come into play. That apps and a world of digital everything complicates things. That we should still be allowed to let our kids run free from the lights off to the lights on (#iykyk .... hashtags are a whole other thing because growing up we called those pound signs and no words came after it to help navigate the audience that sees your blog, vlog, journal, post, reel or whatever). We live in a completely different world. Let's face it, anyone 30 years old and older were expecting to be living like the Jetson's now, never did we expect far less than that kind of world nor did we ever see a recession in division, politics, discrimination and how we live day to day. Which brings me back to my point, DON'T GET TOO COMFORTABLE. You want to know how to subside anxiety, battle depression, and have a stronger mental health, let go. Let go of everything you thought you knew and everything you expected life to be by now and developed a,"Eh it is what it is," attitude because when you expect nothing, you can more easily adapt to the ever changing world around you with more shoulder shrugs than disappointment.

Your life is still what you make it. Despite all the worldly circumstances, you can still surround yourself with people who bring out the best in you, positive vibes, adventures that make your soul feel free. You can still wake up everyday and choose joy over,"ugh not another day." There is power in your thoughts, in your words that you speak to yourself and in your actions. The world may be ever changing, inconsistent and downright hard, but you still have power over how you choose to cope, build your own consistencies that allow room for change, growth and development. Choose to not get stuck in your own ways. Choose not to be disappointed by your expectations. Choose to let go, trust in God (or in the universe or whatever you believe in) that all things will workout in the end. Choose to believe it's a good life despite the bad things, because you cannot control what happens tomorrow, you cannot control the changes in technology, in politics, in our churches, heck even our schools, our neighborhoods, etc., but you can control how you respond to the changes. You can choose to respond with kindness towards others but also yourself, you can choose to respond with compassion, understanding, love and generosity. You can choose to not judge others. You can choose to understand that everyone is fighting something you know nothing about so therefore you can choose to respond with empathy and sympathy. Mind over matter. You cannot decide what will happen tomorrow but you can decide to not get stuck and to grow with those changes even though it takes away your comfort. Decide to take on the challenges with strength, courage, bravery, and acceptance of whatever happens, happens, and it'll all workout. Decide to breath today. Work hard tomorrow, but breath.

You got this, you don't need comfort, you just need confidence.

https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/how-to-conquer-expectations-and-live-the-life-you-love