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Life’s Plans and Expectations against Life’s Unpredictability and Uncertainty
By Life-Musings.com | October 21, 2008
Ever heard of the term ‘life expectancy’? I’m sure you have. It gives us a rough gauge of how long we can expect to live.
Too much about life these days is about expectancy, projections, what’s expected, and what not.
We think we are going to live a good, 60, 70 or 80 years, and we plan our lives out based on that.
We plan our entire year out.
We put in a certain amount of money into an investment plan, and we expect a minimum annual return of a certain percentage.
We plan our finances, our education, our vacations, etc, all way ahead of time.
We expect stuff. When we put coins in the vending machine and press the button, we expect something to come out.
When we flip a switch, we expect the lights to come on; and when we turn on the tap, we expect water to flow out.
And, plans and expectations are intrinsically linked. Plans only work because certain expectations are met.
If, there is no expectation or supposed guarantee that every dollar I put in the bank can be withdrawn on another day, it would be impossible for me to plan my finances.
And I can’t plan my water and electricity usage if the switches and taps don’t work half the time.
I’m not saying planning and expectations are not good. We all need a certain degree of those, especially considering how the world works today.
But, frankly, I think we have gone way too far. To the extent that we have practically lost respect for the fragility and, particularly, the unpredictability of life.
To be brutally blunt - what god-given right do we have to expect life and the universe to be dishing out things to us, in the exact way we expect them to?
What makes us think that the entire financial system might not just collapse, and every dollar and every cent which we have would become virtually worthless overnight?
What makes us think that people who have been with us all these years will still be here tomorrow?
Why do we assume that life as we know it will carry on exactly the way it does?
This isn’t negativity; it isn’t pessimism. This is a realization of the unpredictability of life.
When properly accepted and embraced, life’s unpredictability is actually one of its most intriguing and alluring elements.
No doubt it will be challenging. As with all else, it’s part of life’s journey.
Learning to live with life’s uncertainty is the greatest freedom we can have.
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