Things Never Happened The Way I Imagined Them!

Today’s inspirational quote is on our very own imagination, the force that drives us, motivates us and makes us wonder as to where life is headed. And our quote of the day is:

Well! So true isn’t it? Life is a bit cruel sometimes and sometimes it just feels so. And no matter what it seems, it hardly ever happens that things work the way we want them to. They are always different, at least in some way or the other. If I look back at all the childhood dreams I have had and look at where I am now, it sure is a lot different than what I had imagined it to be. And I am 100% sure that this is true for most of you as well.

Things will not happen the way we want

Then why are we pitching this as an inspirational quote? Isn’t it a bit depressing that we are saying that things will not happen the way we want?

Well, I guess you already know the point we are going to make. We had talked about a similar issue about planning in life – If Only Life Was As Simple And Easy As Our Plan!. Our point was not just to show the obvious to you and call it an inspirational quote or a motivational post. It was simply to state that we need to build a relaxation model for the expectation of our imagination and the outcomes.

I agree that had earlier talked about setting a base standard in life and never going below that. We had in fact quoted Anthony Robbins to say

“If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve”

Anthony Robbins (Source)

But it is also quite amusing to see how contradicting these quotes seem at the outset. But the truth is they balance each other out pretty well.

Bumps along the road

And it is true, life is never going to be the way we imagine it. We are certain to hit a few bumps along the way. We are going to see those days where things seem hopeless and there doesn’t seem to be a way out. And we have also been through the days where no matter what we do, everything seems to go haywire and completely out of our imagination.

Maybe at these points, it makes sense to have a relook at our imagination. Ask a couple of simple questions –

  • Should I actually change my imagination?
  • Am I being too unrealistic in expecting this out of my life?
  • Is it that bad that things are a little different from my imagination?
  • Where does the new outcome lead me to?
  • Is there any possibility that this outcome can lead me to a better outcome or a better quality of life?
  • Was I limiting my capacities to my earlier imagination? Is the new occurrence pushing me towards a better quality of life?

The bottom line is as simple as this, the one question is whether an occurrence is improving our lives for the good. Whether this is leading us somewhere better. And whether all of this has a place in our grand plan.

If the answer is yes, then we would simply say – don’t worry about the smaller pictures and the minor details. They can be a little different from the image you have, but the big picture really counts. Let life stray a bit away from your earlier imagination. Identify if it can turn out to be a good thing. If not, try and figure out what you can do to bring balance into it. The more you focus on the results, the more you get there.

For, the minor differences will always be there and imagination will be slightly different from reality. It just maybe for the best!


12 thoughts on “Things Never Happened The Way I Imagined Them!”

  1. Things never happened the way I imagined them. Before I got here, I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend that it did not exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in the back corner of the endless maze and to pretend that I was not lost, but home.

  2. Thank you. That is a very poetic way of putting it across :). I guess maybe that is the game we are all playing, to snap out of the mazes created by ourselves and sometimes by the society and sometimes by our peer group. It sure is a very rewarding process to step out and start embracing life the way it is and the way we want to :)

  3. I really like the physics interpretation Nitin :). The uncertainty principle of Heisenberg is a really cool comparison :) and it makes perfect sense and presence in our lives as well.

  4. Thank you Somali :). I think we all are on the same boat too. It is very rare that things have turned out the way I imagined them to be. It has always been about changing my mindset about it and to be honest, I have really enjoyed doing that :)

  5. Thank you Subhodeep :). He he, I think I can share a similar experience with you about my life as well. Growing up I wanted to be a sportsperson and then an engineer by education and then I wanted to be an IAS and now I am an entrepreneur. I have loved the journey so far and truth is, it has turned out much better than the imagination I had for myself :). Life sure is a lot rewarding when you stray from the usually followed norms of imagination and not limit ourselves by it..

  6. Fully agree. Life is never going to be the way we imagine it. When I was in school I wanted to become a writer instead became a computer engineer. Just when things were settling, I became a banker. Life changes much faster than our imagination can cope with. :)

  7. Life and its situations, that it is complied of, are uncertain. I think these uncertainties are fundamental. Let me look at this from Physics’ point of view. There is an uncertainty principle put forward by Heisenberg. It says that you can’t predict position and momentum of an electron simultaneously. Now when the fundamental particle of the universe, that is the electron , is not certain and loves to enjoy uncertainty then, how come we human and the universe, that’s made of electron, can be certain.

  8. Thank you Kokila. Indeed, I was feeling like the master of Irony when I was writing that and feeling whether I am contradicting myself a lot. But as you said, it is quite true and I think we all go through that phase and the mind goes to its natural course of entropy where it doesn’t want to do anything, it just wants to wait for something to happen on its own and we both know the odds of that happening. It just goes a little too far sometimes!

  9. I certainly agree to that mate. Those situations do make us question a lot of things and wonder where we are headed. But truth is, we don’t have much of a choice, but to believe in something. And when such is the case, choosing a belief becomes quintessential and why not choose the best one which gives us an opportunity and a thought to strive further than the one that pulls us down?

    I completely agree to the point that the mind refuses to think further and it doesnt want to move from its inertia. But we both know that the truth – It is quite simply in getting over the inertial state and out of the comfort zone – in this case being the self pity or the helplessness of the mind. But it is out of that comfort zone where we can put our lives back on track and sometimes without much of our knowledge too :). But a constant action does make a lot of difference.

  10. Inspiring :)…but sometimes the bump is such big that mind/thoughts stops responding and we say to life that “take me wherever you want I am really not in condition to plan further”.

  11. Yeaaaa…Vinay its definitely contradictory but makes sense too . Sometimes I am just weary and want the best of everything the way I want !! But yes being the wise mom I have to be I am fine with life even though it strays a little too far at times :) :D inspiring !

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