Curve balls. They happen. It’s when the stuff you couldn’t imagine or wouldn’t know was coming shows up and interrupts the previously scheduled plans you’ve had.
They happen in small ways every day. If you’re over-scheduled, there’s no room for them and they result in anxiety, stress, and broken promises. There’s a simple fix for this one: schedule less, say no to more. Otherwise, we should all expect interruptions and curveballs when overscheduled, so we minimize our reactions.
The larger ones, the curve balls you couldn’t have seen coming that are game changers, life alter-ers and interruptions to your patterns of thinking and habits, these are something else.
When the very nature of your day is filled with a new reality, an incredible opportunity, the love of your life, a career path or location change, or a chronic or terminal diagnosis, this is different. It requires you to rethink your patterns, your life, your comfort, the things you take for granted, and all you’ve decided. These kinds of curve balls question our mortality, our future, our competence, what’s possible, and our capabilities. These are the events which alter the course of our lives and our security.
The problem is we confuse the two and treat the everyday curve balls as if they are the larger ones. They’re not. Don’t confuse them.