Driving a Car on a Rainy Day

Yesterday, was having coffee with a college friend and we were reflecting on our journeys.

While we started our professional journeys together, going to the same B-school & then joining the same firm, our journeys have been remarkably different. Disillusioned by the desk based analytics role, he ventured into the building materials industry & today runs a successful export firm. I continued in the analytics, insights & technology space. Yet, there was something very similar about our reflections.

Whenever things looked like a hunky-dory or a cakewalk, there was a reality check around the corner. And whenever we felt that we had landed ourselves in a tough or unfortunate spot it turned out to be a blessing in hindsight and a stepping stone for greater things.

Life & professional journeys are like we are driving a car on a foggy rainy day, where we can see only 10 meters ahead. Sometimes, we are able to avoid a pothole and feel elated about it, not knowing that avoiding the pothole has pivoted our trajectory towards a dangerous cliff. And sometimes we are unhappy that we had to go through a pothole not realising that this trajectory saved us from the cliff on either side.

Accepting that we don't control everything is powerful to let go and be in the flow.