Whether You Like It Or Not, Something Unforeseen Will Happen

What’s the meaning of life? To live it or to control it? Living it will satisfy us, but controlling it will never give us any joy. That is why we must enjoy life to the fullest. Although something unforeseen will happen, we must learn to appreciate and process them, for they will help us to enjoy the things we cannot control.

Usually, “something unforeseen” describes something that surprises us. We need to be able to distinguish between the unforeseen and then the anticipated. We cannot deceive ourselves by calling some situations that way thanks to laziness or out of forgetfulness. We have made no effort to avoid the predictable. Lack of foresight will always lead to improvisation.

The worst thing about the unforeseen events is that when they occur, we get so busy finding solutions that we forget to ask ourselves if we could have foreseen it. And when we realize that it is too late to solve the problem, we usually lose heart and feel helpless.

How can one prepare for something unforeseen in life?

Sometimes life shakes up everything including the problems we think we have. Existence is not what we think or want. That’s what’s happening to us. But only by acting on what is happening to us, and not on what we imagine or desire, can we deal with any unforeseen event that may arise.

While it is not easy to survive the unexpected, it is not impossible either. First of all, we must understand that unforeseen events will always occur. Thus, it is better to be prepared that they will happen and have additional resources to draw on.

Here are four tips that will help you overcome the unforeseen much better:

• Prepare a plan B. You should always have several paths that you can follow.
• Foresight. Think about the most likely things that could happen. Prepare an appropriate plan for each of them.
• Make decisions with confidence. Even if you are not in possession of all the information prior to an unforeseen event, then you need to trust what is right in each situation.
• Ask for help. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging that something has pushed you off course and that you now need a helping hand.

Some people want so much control that they forget to live

Some people think they can control everything. This perception is related to how our brains cheat us by judging facts and manipulating information in support of our choices. This can lead to incorrect control.

People who are obsessed with control will never enjoy life. They think they are responsible for everything that happens around them. On the one hand, it can make them feel omnipotent. On the other hand, it can lead to them feeling completely incompetent to cope with their own problems or things that are controlled by others from the outside.

These characteristics make them very engrossing and controlling, where there is very little room for something crazy or crooked. Moreover, they tend to suffer when they can not control something.

Acceptance and committed therapy (ACT) make us reflect on the usefulness of controlling. In most situations, it is possible for us to act with our conscious choices, while the opposite happens in a very small but important percentage of situations. The more we try to control them, the more uncontrolled and traumatic they will become.