I’ve been reading a lot lately, and I came across a line that made me stop and think:

“Everything will be okay as soon as you are okay with everything. And that’s the only time everything will be okay.”

At first, I thought, Well, that sounds nice.

And then I realized how often I’ve been doing exactly the opposite.

I’ve spent a lot of time waiting for everything to be okay so that I could feel okay.

Waiting for the situation to work itself out. Waiting for the answer to become clear. Waiting for the thing I wanted to happen. Waiting for the uncertainty to go away.

I was essentially saying, I’ll be okay when everything is okay.

But what if I had it completely backward?

What if everything becomes okay when I become okay with everything?

Not because I suddenly like everything that’s happening. Not because I understand it. Not because it turned out exactly the way I wanted it to.

But because I trust that I don’t have to understand everything to trust it.

That’s a big one for me.

There have been plenty of times when something didn’t make sense in the moment. Something felt disappointing, unfair, confusing or just plain uncomfortable. And my instinct was to fight it, question it, worry about it and try to figure out how to make it different.

But maybe acceptance doesn’t mean we approve of everything.

Maybe it simply means we stop arguing with reality.

This is where I am. This is what is happening. I may not understand it yet, but I can trust that there is something here for me.

I think that’s where trust comes in.

Trusting that everything is working out for my best interest and highest good—even when it doesn’t look like it.

Even when it isn’t what I thought I wanted.

Even when I can’t see how this particular chapter could possibly lead anywhere good.

Because sometimes we think we know what we want, when really we only know what we can see from where we’re standing.

Life has a much bigger view.

Maybe the closed door is protecting us.

Maybe the delay is preparing us.

Maybe the ending is making room.

Maybe the thing we thought we needed was never actually ours to keep.

And maybe being okay doesn’t mean having all the answers.

Maybe being okay is saying, “I don’t know how this is going to work out, but I trust that it will.”

That’s a very different way of moving through life.

Instead of waiting for everything to feel right before we allow ourselves to feel okay, we decide that we can be okay right here, right now, in the middle of the uncertainty.

Because the truth is, there will probably always be something that isn’t quite okay.

A problem to solve. A question without an answer. A plan that changes. Something we wish were different.

If our peace depends on everything around us being okay, we’re going to be waiting a very long time.

So maybe the trick isn’t getting everything to be okay.

Maybe the trick is becoming okay with everything.

And when we do that, somehow, everything really does start to feel a little more okay.

XX,

MG