Uncertainty Is Within You

I read this article on another website and it made me think about my life and all the things that are uncertain in it. Sometimes I dwell too much on the little things, the bad things, and the sad things that I have no control over. I've decided that from now on I'm not going to let these things in my life that I have no control over affect the way I live, act, or feel. Please read the article and take the concepts to heart like I have.

Uncertainty Is Within You

by Jonathan Liljeblad on September 7, 2007

There is a great deal of uncertainty involved in this sport. Uncertainty as to wave sets, water temperature, pollution. Uncertainty over road conditions, potholes, traffic. Uncertainty in regards to bad weather, rough trails, random animals. Never mind your equipment, and the uncertainty of corroded wetsuits, leaky goggles, flat tires, snapped chains, locked brakes, chafing clothes, defective shoes, and broken water bottles. So many uncertainties...so much so as to be overwhelming.
For all this, however, you can't allow yourself to dwell on these things. It's pointless. You don't control them. You can't change them. You won't make a difference. The universe will move on its own way in its own time on its own path for its own purpose, regardless of what you do. Uncertainties will happen, and will always happen. And not just in a race, but in all of life.
Because all of life is chaos.
Ultimately, all you can do is to control the one thing you can control: yourself. You can control when you sleep, you can control when you eat, you can control when you study, you can control when you work. You can control when you train, how hard you train, how far you train, how well you train. You can control your thoughts, your words, your actions. You can control everything you do.
And when something doesn't go the way you want or plan, just accept it for what it is, and then make your adjustments and just move on.
You may not control the events in the world around you, but you can control how you respond. And you want to respond in a way that is helpful to you and people around you. Getting angry won't help. Being sad won't help. Feeling sorry for yourself won't help. Giving in to fear won't help. Because the universe just...does. not. care.
Oh, you can allow yourself a moment to feel these emotions. You can stop and allow yourself to wallow in them. Just enough to remind yourself of their futility. Then you need to recognize the only reason they stay is because you make them stay, and then calm your mind and let...them...go...
And just move on.
Because you can.
All of life is uncertainty. All of life is chaos. And you are the master of uncertainty. You are the lord of chaos.
You just have to find it all within you.