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Daily Question, March 25

How have I been surprised by the way in which my life has unfolded?

  • Linda

    I never thought I would get married, but here I am 31 years later! My life is so rich with friends, family and of course my dear husband. I had a great career. I was so unhappy in my 20’s I couldn’t even dream of the life I’ve had. I am so grateful.

  • Elaine

    Surprised by joy meeting my husband and marrying (for the first time!) in my mid-sixties. Together our lives are richer and juicier.

  • Malag

    There’s this thing called aging, if you’re fortunate, and ultimately death. Who knew back then when I was young. It still surprises me.

  • Just be

    No. I am astonished.

    I am awed because it has not unfolded, nor is it unfolding.

    It is always now.

  • Kristi

    My life has turned out very little like I imagined yet it is a wonderful life and I adore most moments and am thankful it didn’t turn out like I imagined!

  • Don Jones

    I have learned to work on myself so that I can be ready. Ready for whatever shows up. And then do nothing. It works a treat. Everything becomes a possibility.

  • sb
    I guess I never really had a plan but by 34 I was getting sad I had never found a partner, and, living in a tiny rural village was trying to accustom myself to the fact I would probably never meet anyone, when I met my now husband and have had a delightful 20 years of marriage. I have also discovered I am far more resilient than I expected which I have learnt through a series of unplanned events - not always welcome at the time, but now seen as learning opportunities. I think I am often surprise...

    I guess I never really had a plan but by 34 I was getting sad I had never found a partner, and, living in a tiny rural village was trying to accustom myself to the fact I would probably never meet anyone, when I met my now husband and have had a delightful 20 years of marriage. I have also discovered I am far more resilient than I expected which I have learnt through a series of unplanned events – not always welcome at the time, but now seen as learning opportunities. I think I am often surprised by life and I have come to enjoy that, although when younger I would plan more and have expectations that were often not met – hopefully I am older and wiser now as opposed to just older!

    Read More
  • expati

    I would never have thought I would move to Mexico or publish a memoir about it. I’ve another one upcoming, and an eBook compilation of a photo blog. Write me if interested. I’m looking for beta readers.

  • Lauryn

    5 or 6 years ago, I would have never pictured myself living on the west coast. I didn’t expect to meet anyone after I separated from my husband.

  • Toni
    Growing up all I was taught was get married, have babies. I was not encouraged to go to college. I beet the odds with 2 masters degrees. Along with a life long bout with depression, ADD and a few other learning disabilities that were discovered when I was in Graduate school and yet I managed to retire with good pension at 56. That surprises me. So at 65 and still single I feel that the best is yet to come even in the midst of a this pandemic. I have survived being a child of divorce, a...

    Growing up all I was taught was get married, have babies. I was not encouraged to go to college. I beet the odds with 2 masters degrees. Along with a life long bout with depression, ADD and a few other learning disabilities that were discovered when I was in Graduate school and yet I managed to retire with good pension at 56. That surprises me.

    So at 65 and still single I feel that the best is yet to come even in the midst of a this pandemic. I have survived being a child of divorce, a religious cult, and have faced many of my demons and still have hope for a future. I thought I would end up in a mental institution when I was at my wits’ end. Yet when I thought it was over so many times, my life is still unfolding and my old life is no longer an option. So new dreams, aspirations, hopes at this stage of the game is not something I thought I would have any energy for, but I do. I also get the sense that I won’t be alone forever maybe not in the romantic sense but in the sense of community that I have longed for and still crave on wider scale. It’s like that song in West Side Story, “Somethings coming, I don’t know what it is but its gonna be great”…

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    • Michele

      loved this, so uplifting:)

    • expati

      Great story! We’ve a lot in common. I got married and was in my last year of grad school. The marriage failed, and I decided I was not cut out for an academic science career. I was too sensitive for the cutthroat competition, and dropped out. I wound up in and out of mental hospitals for nine years, but got lucky and never returned or took an meds after that. Now I am thriving, living in central Mexico and writing about my experiences.

  • Cathie
    OMGosh - I had realized this and just started a journal to notate these surprises, as there are so many things, actions, occurrences that needed to happen for me to end up where I am now!!! Sometimes a disappointment turns out to be a blessing. Here is just 1 example: years ago when I married I was told I could not keep my job as a corporate trainer because my hubby worked for the same company - yes that is the way it was back then. So I found a position with a different company teaching clien...

    OMGosh – I had realized this and just started a journal to notate these surprises, as there are so many things, actions, occurrences that needed to happen for me to end up where I am now!!! Sometimes a disappointment turns out to be a blessing.
    Here is just 1 example: years ago when I married I was told I could not keep my job as a corporate trainer because my hubby worked for the same company – yes that is the way it was back then. So I found a position with a different company teaching clients how to use a new 1st-of-its kind online order entry system. I felt it was a step down from being where I was but was happy to find another job…only later to realize at the years went on that software training was going to be a huge industry and getting into it on the ground level allowed me to be ahead of the curve and create a wonderful career!!!
    Someone once shared there are no coincidences – only Godincidences:)

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  • Carol

    I am prone to “analysis paralysis” so I will just say there have been many surprises–many welcomed and many not so welcome. But like a surfer who ends up in the drink, I do my best to roll with the surprises punches and the surprise hugs! And sometimes I weep!

  • k'Care-Reena
    HOW HAVE YOU BEEN SURPRISED BY THE WAY IN WHICH YOUR LIFE HAS UNFOLDED? This question is a great way to start my day. As a child I would stare at myself in the mirror and would imagine how I would look and be when I grow up. If I was sad or happy I would like to see myself smiling and look into my own eyes to see if I am genuinely happy. When I was younger I was gullable and innocent. I wanted to be everyones friend and make them laugh but not everyone liked me. As I got bullied I would coac...

    HOW HAVE YOU BEEN SURPRISED BY THE WAY IN WHICH YOUR LIFE HAS UNFOLDED?
    This question is a great way to start my day.
    As a child I would stare at myself in the mirror and would imagine how I would look and be when I grow up. If I was sad or happy I would like to see myself smiling and look into my own eyes to see if I am genuinely happy. When I was younger I was gullable and innocent. I wanted to be everyones friend and make them laugh but not everyone liked me. As I got bullied I would coach myself and in Junior High I decided to be the Bully and no longer the Bullied. When I looked at myself in the mirror I would be disappointed in myself, I could feel me pushing my fear & anger on someone else THAT IS NOT FAIR. I stopped however I kept my approach to people and spoke with no filter, still emotionally hurting others.
    Fast forward to my mid 20’s I was financially stable however in a unhealthy relationship. I was diagnosis w/ Anxiety & Panic Disorder, drinking and smoking excessively. I would look at myself after I would cry and knew my younger self would NOT BE PROUD and ASHAMED.
    Fast forward to now!! I can start to face my inner child because I have finally found my inner child, I am healing and healing others and that is who my inner child was, before being tainted by society and environment. I am missing love from my TWIN FLAME however I trust the universe will bring us together…so for me I am shocked to see I was able to get out of a very dark phase in my life. From being bullied to being cheated on etc. I am still very GRATEFUL and HAPPY w/ my life. Even w/ the times of having attacks I am able to get out of the dark and live in the light!!! I am now becoming someone my Inner Child looks up to and heals from. I’d say thats a great way to live life!!!

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  • Ed Schulte
    Quoting from the famous line from the famous movie, “my momma aways said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know What ya gonna get.â€. I had no pre- expectations about the “ways of life†when I arrived in physical form this time around. I was just amazed at the sights and sounds of the new day.. Then I was told from within this light filled amazement….. “Some day you will know who I amâ€. I wasn’t given be opportunity to call that messenger back and ask for more detailâ...

    Quoting from the famous line from the famous movie, “my momma aways said, life is like a box of chocolates. You never know What ya gonna get.â€.

    I had no pre- expectations about the “ways of life†when I arrived in physical form this time around. I was just amazed at the sights and sounds of the new day.. Then I was told from within this light filled amazement….. “Some day you will know who I amâ€.

    I wasn’t given be opportunity to call that messenger back and ask for more detail…so I continue to sample the surprises in the box of chocolates Fate/ Divine Grace / presents ….and not get caught up with egoism’s wanting to “look backâ€and judge / classify / the new surprises based on the previous surprises or anyone else’s ‘box of chocolates’ …

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  • Katrina
    Hindsight is 2020, as they say...I was often surprised and frightened, and lived out of that fear, when things didn't go as planned. I was surprised when I did not find someone to marry while in college; I was surprised that my chosen career was not the be all, end all of my life; and I was totally shocked that I was not married and was without children by the age of 30. As a child and youth of the 60's/70's and of rural Texas Panhandle, where the wind blows daily, there is hardly a tree in sig...

    Hindsight is 2020, as they say…I was often surprised and frightened, and lived out of that fear, when things didn’t go as planned. I was surprised when I did not find someone to marry while in college; I was surprised that my chosen career was not the be all, end all of my life; and I was totally shocked that I was not married and was without children by the age of 30. As a child and youth of the 60’s/70’s and of rural Texas Panhandle, where the wind blows daily, there is hardly a tree in sight, and the largest body of water is a cattle tank, I had never considered alternatives. Back then I would never have imagined that one day some 50ish years later I would be a retired clergywoman, with grown stepchildren, given over to preaching and living social justice, attending grandchildren’s soccer games or sitting on any gulf or ocean beach I can as often as possible with wine in hand and best friends in the next chair. It is indeed a wonderful life.

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    • Ed Schulte

      This…. is a Good read! 🙂 trees or no trees, ( they would get in the way of a good soccer match anyway! )

  • SK
    Not surprised at all in some ways. Totally blown away in other ways. It's only in hindsight that it starts to make sense- this one precious life. I was blessed from the beginning and destined for something special even I could not humanly imagine. My education, my first job, my subsequent jobs, the promotions, the ability to lead and do public speaking- all a series of miraculous divine interventions. the time to be with my parents in their winter years as I walked them through cancer and Alzhe...

    Not surprised at all in some ways. Totally blown away in other ways. It’s only in hindsight that it starts to make sense- this one precious life. I was blessed from the beginning and destined for something special even I could not humanly imagine. My education, my first job, my subsequent jobs, the promotions, the ability to lead and do public speaking- all a series of miraculous divine interventions. the time to be with my parents in their winter years as I walked them through cancer and Alzheimer’s. The doors opening to prison and jail ministry; now Lay Speaker Ministry work; VSU advocacy work. I never would have imagined ALL this but yet, here it is thanks to God’s plan. Even finally getting married at age 41 and now living in Michigan. Go figure. LOL

    Read More
  • Lioness

    I did not expect to have a career training and recruiting lorry drivers, not after going to college to work with animals, but I loved it and do not regret it. More recently my path has totally changed and I am embarking on a new career, after a break of almost 5 years, training to be a counsellor. The surprise here is that I never thought I would be able to doo this and yet here I am, doing it.

    • Cathie

      The unexpected are the most wonderful surprises and you will be able to remake your self/career over as many times as you like, if you but take a new journey. Enjoy your new path!

  • sunnypatti
    I look at the way my life has unfolded with awe, but I'm honestly not surprised by any of it. My life is quite different these days than it was 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago. But as I've journeyed down the path, I've learned that God wants me to be happy, and also that I have the ability to help make that happen. I believe everything happens for a reason, and that if we learn the lessons we're supposed to along the way, then we get to move on to the next chapter. It took a while, but I finally learned...

    I look at the way my life has unfolded with awe, but I’m honestly not surprised by any of it. My life is quite different these days than it was 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago. But as I’ve journeyed down the path, I’ve learned that God wants me to be happy, and also that I have the ability to help make that happen. I believe everything happens for a reason, and that if we learn the lessons we’re supposed to along the way, then we get to move on to the next chapter. It took a while, but I finally learned to love myself, learned to not be so reactive, learned that I am worthy of love and happiness, and learned that what I focus on grows….so I quit focusing on lack and loneliness and struggle, and I swear, it has made all the difference. I now have an amazing and loving husband (!), I am part owner of a beautiful home on a beautiful piece of farmland (!), I am healthy and strong, have peace of mind, and am able to take care of all my finances with ease and plenty leftover. I’m grateful the path I’ve been on has brought me where I am today. It’s quite magical, but not really surprising 🙂

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    • AwesomelyHolly

      “I’ve learned that God wants me to be happy, and also that I have the ability to help make that happen.” ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS

  • Javier Visionquest
    All the turmoil of youth was not the possibilities for my future failing spectacularly, as it appeared then through the grubby lens of ego. It was only my resistance to a broader plan I could not fully comprehend within that window of time. Without faith, we are nothing but raw material; it has taught me that period was to ready and deliver me in to the Magnificent Now, my multiple facets polished like a gemstone to reflect the light of blessings that were to follow, and honed sharp at the broke...

    All the turmoil of youth was not the possibilities for my future failing spectacularly, as it appeared then through the grubby lens of ego. It was only my resistance to a broader plan I could not fully comprehend within that window of time. Without faith, we are nothing but raw material; it has taught me that period was to ready and deliver me in to the Magnificent Now, my multiple facets polished like a gemstone to reflect the light of blessings that were to follow, and honed sharp at the broken edges for the work I am to begin.

    Read More
    • Cathie

      I have also found it difficult to replace the “I” of the ego with the “I AM” of the spirit, but learning from the past does help, and assists to bring the present into an awesome, clearer focus.

  • Mike S

    I have often said that my life is something that happened on the way to someplace else. I got off to a rocky start in life and then had a wonderful spiritual turn around in my mid-30s. Since then everything has changed and been a steady upward progress. I never dreamed I could have the kind of life that I have now which is so for peace, love, financial security and the possibility for creativity. I am truly blessed

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