I cannot say with confidence what will happen tomorrow or the next day. However, one thing I am absolutely certain about is that life will always be uncertain. The best way to illustrate this is to reflect on your life since you became an adult at 18. At that point, we were all in different places in terms of our outlooks and choices, including fashion. Some of us may have aspired to study, others to find a job, travel, gain independence, or simply survive. But if you consider where you are now compared to where you were then, very few of us could have predicted exactly how our lives would unfold.
For some reason, as we get older, our aversion to risk seems to increase. Things we once did without much thought now become over-analyzed into inaction. Recently, I was swimming with my children when they asked if I could do a backflip into the water. The short answer was that I couldn’t. The long answer was that I used to be able to. I would spend hours doing backflips off a diving board at school or off the edge of the pool during school holidays. Now, though, my mind was filled with thoughts like, “What if I fall? What if I hit my head? What if I land on my back?” Teenage me wouldn’t have hesitated. I remember once traveling back to university after a holiday. I landed in Port Elizabeth only to realize I had missed the last shuttle to Grahamstown. I befriended a taxi driver who directed me to an affordable backpackers’ lodge. Later that night, someone offered me a ride to Grahamstown, and without overthinking, I hopped in the car. I arrived safely, with all my organs intact.
If someone had asked me at 18 where I’d be in my career and life 20 years later, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to predict it. Mainly because my life has turned out far better than I could have planned. I don’t mention this to boast but to highlight that the range of possibilities open to me was far greater than I could comprehend at the time. I contrast this now with decisions made in mid-career and middle age. It’s perhaps a bit odd to think of 42 as mid-career or middle-aged, especially as people are living longer these days. But in a conventional career, the 40s often mark the midpoint of working life, assuming 40 years of work between the ages of 20 and 60. This period can feel stressful as we look for continued progress. If someone asks me now what I hope to achieve over the next 20 years, my vision is far more limited. I base my expectations on my current career trajectory, convince myself I can’t do everything, and avoid uncomfortable situations under the guise of logic.
Meanwhile, the world remains as uncertain as ever, and there is no guarantee where we will be in 20 years. The one thing we can consistently do is take action. We have to keep moving forward, even without the assurance that everything will go according to plan. However, you need a fishing rod in the water to catch a fish, and you have to buy a ticket to win the lottery.
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