It’s okay when things don’t work out.

Nearly every plan I’ve attempted to execute in the past couple of years has either gone completely, unpredictably sideways, turning into a hot mess or has fallen apart completely.

For someone who has always been pretty much successful with nearly everything I’ve attempted, it’s been a new experience and one that had me questioning everything.

But, as hindsight often shows, all those things weren’t supposed to work out. And what’s more, when I look back at the ideas and plans I had, I am so incredibly grateful that they didn’t work out. Garth Brooks knew what he was singing when he said, “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.”

I’m also thanking God for all the things that didn’t work out. Why? Because I can see how I would’ve been led down so many wrong paths that would’ve taken me further and further away from my happiness and away from my purpose.

It’s not very much fun to feel like you’re being thwarted and rejected by the Universe at every turn, but a shift in perspective can flip the entire story on its head. I wasn’t being thwarted and rejected. I was being guided and protected.

I say this now having gained a clearer perspective on who I am, why I’m here, and what I’m passionate about bringing to life in this world.

To be honest, I had no plans to share all my failures quite yet, as some are still a little recent for public consumption, but I know there’s someone out there who can benefit from hearing my truth. Things don’t always work out the way I want them to or think they should. Most of the time, they don’t go according to my wishes and plans. But somehow, every damn time, they turn out SO MUCH BETTER than I ever could have planned.

I’ve witnessed it over and over again in my life. And even now, in the midst of change that didn’t begin at all the way I had hoped or envisioned, I know I’m still being guided and protected so that I can become all of who I am meant to be.

Bottom line: Life knows what it’s doing, even when we think it’s all falling apart. Life is giving us gifts constantly, even if we can’t perceive them for what they truly are. As for my plans, well… let’s just say I’m flowing with the changes and not trying to set anything in stone.

I’ve gotten clear about what matters to me, what I want to create and offer to the world, and how I want to be and live my life.

That’s what I can control. Everything else, I’m leaving in the capable hands of the loving, benevolent, omniscient, omnipotent Universe.

If things haven’t been working out for you the way you had hoped, don’t stress. Don’t beat yourself up. It’s okay. You’re not alone. The best outcomes are generally totally unforeseeable when we’re down in the weeds, wishing life would cut us a break. It gives me incredible peace to believe that everything is always working out in my best interest, even if doesn’t really look like it at present or I can’t figure out how that could possibly be so from where I’m standing. But I know the truth—God always delivers. Always. And that delivery is always better than anything I could’ve come up with by myself. Every. Single. Time. I don’t have to have faith in this one, because I know it’s true. It’s just a matter of time…

Sending love from the PNW,