Life comes with no guarantees.
NOPE...
NOT an OPTION...
You can't get your money back.
You can't really buy insurance for anything that matters.
You may get a dented, scratched, or otherwise flawed life...
In fact, possibly the ONLY guarantee in life is that it will surprise you at times, it will be unpredictable at times...
The ONLY guarantee LIFE will give you is that it will be imperfect... it won't be exactly as you hoped or imagined...
And, that is not necessarily a bad thing, because, in many aspects it may be so much more.
Life has no guarantees...
You aren't guaranteed a long life.
You aren't guaranteed to know what your dreams are...
You aren't guaranteed to have children, have healthy children, or if you do, have children that will do as you say and become the adults you expect or envision...
You aren't guaranteed that you will marry, or that you will understand love... or that your relationships will last...
You aren't guaranteed that a friend won't turn on you, that you won't be sued, that a loved one won't die...
You aren't guaranteed that you will be happy, that you will find your purpose, that you will live with meaning...
You aren't guaranteed that you will not fail in your ventures, that you will not hurt, that you will not suffer, that you will not be lonely...
You aren't guaranteed justice, nor freedom, nor democracy...
We live desiring guarantees, and if not guarantees, then perhaps we live trying to stack the deck more in our favor...
if I exercise, I will live longer.
If I work hard, I will achieve more of my dreams.
If I do right, I will be done right.
If I love my spouse, we will be together forever.
If I go to church, I will go to heaven.
And, clearly, there are BETTER ways to LIVE your life than others... and you can shift your odds depending on your choices and disciplines...
BUT, there are NO guarantees... and that bothers us (consciously or subconsciously)... we fight that reality...
We want guarantees because they provide boundaries for our comfort (or discomfort)... they provide borders for our fear.
To accept that life has no boundaries and that anything is possible - makes life scarier...
maybe...
Or, it makes life AND WHAT WE CHOOSE TO DO IN IT more meaningful.... more purposeful... more consequential...
LIFE HAS NO GUARANTEES so how we choose to live it makes virtually all of the difference to the LIFE we live...
And, the fact that LIFE has NO GUARANTEE should remind us to not LIVE FOR SOMETHING MEANINGFUL OUT IN TIME, but rather LIVE MEANINGFULLY IN THE NOW...
The fact that life has no guarantees should condition us to expect the unexpected, take nothing for granted, and not be surprised when the unexpected happens.
The fact that life has no guarantees should make us more humble, more present, more empathetic, more deliberate, more flexible...
We live at our own risk... And, we can reduce risk, but never eliminate it...
If we accept life has no guarantees - we'd live more gratefully... grateful for every moment we get without pain, without suffering, without worry, without failure, without loss...
We'd be less likely "hold" our gratitude until something really good happened. Because gratitude is not limited or fixed... and we can be grateful then too!
Maybe you already knew all of this... but think about where you wish you had guarantees, where you have created a specific vision of your life that will feel like failure if it doesn't pan out in that specific way... and, realize now that it may not.
That should not deter you, heck, if anything, it should inspire to work even harder and smarter...
BUT, it should also keep in your mind that the eventuality is at risk - and you shouldn't waste this moment in the hope of it nor in the expectation of it...
You should enjoy this moment in the journey toward the possibility of it...
Life has no guarantees - and I spend so much of my energy trying or expecting a certain outcome... trying not to take a step back.... trying to construct on yesterday...
NOT GUARANTEED...
Kind of like that game of bricks or sticks - where you keep building it up and up and up and the higher you build it - the more sticks you put on, the greater the probability that it can topple over...
THE MORE THINGS YOU EXPECT in the aggregate, the more you tie them all together into your definition of success.. the greater the risk that they could come toppling down...
This conversation is not meant to scare you, but to inspire you....
To inspire you with the IS of life...
To love all that you love - INDEPENDENT of the other things - and AS THEY ARE not as you hope they someday evolve...
To be all that you are - INDEPENDENT of your flaws - and AS YOU ARE not as you hope to be someday...
To appreciate all of the people around you - INDEPENDENT of your expectations of them - AS THEY ARE not as you wish they were or hope they become someday...
Life has no guarantee's...
You can't really make reservations long in advance for your dreams, you can't reserve the table by the window to see the perfect sunset of your future...
Because restaurants close, sunsets can be cloudy, people evolve and hearts stop...
You can, however, look out right now at the reflection of the sunrise on the building next to you... you can linger in the peacefulness of a deep breath.... you can feel the warmth of the hand next to you...
No moment or vision from here forward is guaranteed beyond the moment itself....
but you can live THiS moment, this dented, flawed, imperfect moment, joyfully in the deliberate purpose of your want...
and
in harmony,
Nestor