Next Time Your Life Takes A Detour, Remember This

In this life, we fall and we rise, we twist and we turn, and throughout all of it, we love and we learn. We can get caught off guard and caught up in the moment. We get surprised and enlightened. We plan as much as we can and try not to completely lose our minds when life veers off course. We get served detours and get tempted by something unprecedented. That’s part of the beauty of life—not always knowing what comes next.

Sometimes these detours make us feel lost and weary and worried. Sometimes these detours make us want to run home in a hurry. Sometimes these detours lead us toward a joy we didn’t think we could feel. Sometimes these detours are everything we ever needed but didn’t know we could find. It’s a wild, unpredictable journey, and our souls are along for the ride.

I’ll take off my rose-colored glasses for a moment to admit that not every detour is lined with flowers, but every detour does lead us somewhere toward our power. Sometimes we need to take the hard way to really step into our worth. And sometimes it’s okay to take the easy route and give ourselves a break. It’s always okay to not know where you’re going and let your heart and mind decide—on that day—which you’ll follow.

Love them or hate them, detours are a part of life, and to master life is to master our reaction to it. So get good at answering life’s unexpected revelations by getting good at belonging to yourself and by building a foundation that can withstand any unforeseen circumstance or happenstance. Build a foundation strong and sturdy but lined with love and courage. Build a home for your heart and a haven for your worries. And when you start to feel lost, remember that you can always return to yourself. Return to your breath. Return to the fact that you are strong enough to brave anything.

So that when life surprises you, use it as an opportunity to surprise yourself and test what you are capable of. Because, yes, the universe has your back. But the real way to win at life? To have your own back and still lead from the heart. So, yes, you’ve got this (and everything that comes after this).