The Beauty in the Unexpected

If you’re a planner like me, if you’re someone that believes when something goes unscheduled it never happens, if you feel comfort in knowing what is to come, then this blog is for you. Planning is important. So is organizing your day. It fuels mental clarity and creates a sense of knowing, of being prepared. But sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes the unexpected happens; it throws us off course; it creates a sense of uncertainty.

I’m sure it’s happened to you. I mean, it happened to us all when the pandemic hit in 2020 – throwing our everyday lives off track and into uncharted waters. We wiped down our groceries and quarantined to see family, even when we weren’t sick. There was a lot of unknown. Confusion. This is common when the unexpected happens. Even on a smaller scale. Sometimes the unexpected is something only you experience, like a random phone call from a long-ago friend or your child’s school closing effective at the end of the school year or your out-of-the-blue termination at work. Although these circumstances might seem negative and stressful, I urge you to seek the silver lining. A new job with better benefits might be right around the corner. This might be your tipping point to start your own business – something that has been on your heart for a while. Your child might get into a school that is closer to home or they might meet their childhood best friend. The call you answered might have been a celebratory call from that long-ago friend seeking to reconnect. During the pandemic, maybe you were allowed to work from home or, like me, were able to take a longer maternity leave than planned. Maybe you found a new job, that suited your needs better. Maybe you were unemployed, but it gave you the time and space you needed to just be – something you hadn’t done it awhile.

There are two sides to every coin. Two sides to every situation. Two sides to every story.

A few years ago, I became unexpectedly sick. Out of nowhere. To the point that it interfered with every aspect of my life. My wellbeing was compromised. The unexpected consumed me. To this day, I never got a good diagnosis or clear-cut answer as to how to recover. It was a journey of education, exploration, doctors, books, trial and error, and support that led me to a place where I could eat again without experiencing immediate headaches, brain fog and digestive issues. The point of the story is that I learned from it. I learned to trust my intuition, a higher power, and believed that I could heal. Yes, it was unexpected and life-altering, but it also taught me to not take my wellbeing, or my life, for granted.

What has unexpectedly shown up in your life recently? Was it something big or more local to you? Maybe more than one unexpected occurrence showed up back-to-back. How did you respond?

When something unexpected occurs in my life, I take time to experience my feelings, to mind dump journal, to practice breathwork (pranayama), to talk to someone, and to reflect on the situation in order to cope and grow. As painful or confusing as the unexpected may seem, I believe there is always a growth experience. And if we’re not growing, what are we doing? This is the beauty of the unexpected. The processing. The learning and growing.

At Yoga Nut, we are here to help you and/or your team grow in their wellness journey, to boost worklife balance and to cope with the unexpected through on-demand yoga, through connecting with the local Asheville community during our events and to connect with one another while at work. Reach out to me to learn more! I’d love to chat.

In health,

Lindsay Coward, MPH
Founder of Yoga Nut
Leading yoga and wellness sessions so that you can live well – in life and at work!