Shit I Wish I Knew: No One Has it Figured Out
No One Has It Figured Out.
When we’re kids, we assume the adults have all the answers. Our parents. Grandparents. That cool older uncle. The neighbor across the street.
Then we enter the workforce and look up to the CEOs, managers, and directors.
But here is the wildest revelation I have ever had:
No one has it completely figured out. Seriously.
If you don’t believe me, the glass-shattering realization is coming. For some, it’s a slow unraveling. For others, it's a specific moment that slaps you in the face.
It is particularly unnerving once you realize–gasp–your parents are people too.
They are imperfect. They make mistakes. Flawed. They don’t know EVERYTHING (although I certainly will still call my mom to ask her what to do when I’m sick).
Even then, they aren’t the holders of all knowledge.
But weirdly, it’s kind of beautiful.
Once you have this paradigm shift, you won’t feel the same about the world. It is incredibly freeing AND incredibly terrifying at the same time.
Freeing because it makes you realize that you, too, can be messy, a work in progress, and most certainly don’t need to have it together. You get to be a beginner and evolve at every stage of life.
Terrifying because you realize that the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and leaders of the biggest countries in the world ALSO don’t have it figured out.
Everyone is just trying to make the best decisions with what they have.
That doesn’t mean people can’t be brilliant. They can be wise and experienced.
But no one has mastered life. We’re all still learning.
Find relief in this. Let your shoulders drop and relax your jaw.
Phew–no one has it figured out.
Take this as your permission slip to:
Be a beginner at things
Make mistakes
Fail and be messy
Keep learning and evolving
Being an adult doesn’t mean having it all figured out.
It means showing up anyway.
There is no destination. There is no endpoint or a finish line where you “get it.”
You’re doing it right now.
It’s a journey.
