Go With the Flow

Thinking about Therapy?
Take our quiz to see therapists who are a good match for you.

There is a belief that life is like a river. Some days it is slow and trickles down. Some days it is roaring and tumbling over large rocks and obstacles. Some seasons feel longer than others. What I have come to realize over time is that we have control over only a few things in life. We have control over our actions, the people we choose to surround ourselves with, our attitude, and our response to the changes of life.

This message is not to make you feel like you are out of control of have lost control, but to give perspective. I have found myself at different times in life trying to fight what is happening in my life. I did not get that job, so I try harder. I did not win over that person, so I try to convince them to love me. I did not get what I wanted, so I keep trying to find a way to get it.

I wonder how much more at peace we would be if we stopped fighting. Stopped fighting the people we can not control. Stopped fighting the places we can not control. Stopped fighting the things we can not control. I do not mean physically fighting. I mean the resistance to accepting what is. Fighting what is can be similar to swimming upstream when the river is roaring in another direction. Fighting is walking through the muddy river trying to go the other way when the path downstream is easy.

When life is not going our way, sometimes we are being taught a lesson or being prepared for something greater. So instead I urge you to go with the flow. To lay in the river of life and let it take you where you are meant to be. This is not to say we stay in harmful or hurtful places. But maybe we stop trying to make those things work for us that just do not.

You May Also Like