Yoga is cool. Being able to reach down and touch your toes can be pretty satisfying, and physical fitness is an important part of life. But all of that would only really matter to this article if physical flexibility was what this article was about. Surprise! This article is about the characteristics of being flexible in life, not just in your muscles. Being flexible in all that you do in your everyday life is one of the most important qualities you can have!
But why is being flexible so important? There are two truths about life that concern this article. First, bad things are going to happen to you. There is no avoiding this, as it happens to everyone. It is simply out of our control. Secondly, sometimes, things will not go as planned. This can be relatively controlled with careful, thought out planning, but every once in a while, something with change no matter how carefully you plan. Life simply has too many variables that we can not control. "Okay Garrett, stop stating the obvious! We all live on this earth, we all know that life is unfair." Life is unfair, which is why we need to be extremely prepared to react to whatever life throws at us. Hence, flexibility!
To achieve this preparedness for life, you need to be flexible in two areas: Your worldview, and your reactions. First, and most importantly, you need a flexible worldview, a flexible outlook on life. This goes along with the whole "Bad things are going to happen to you." Yes, bad things are going to happen to you, but what you understand as "bad" with greatly affect your life. Phrases like "Don't make a mountain out of a mole hill" and "it's not the end of the world" are two extremely important concepts that I feel have been lost in this generation. Realizing the difference of what is actually a "bad" thing happening to you, and something that does really matter, will define your stress, anxiety, and happiness.
That is a bold statement. Here is why I support it. The human mind, when deep in emotion, can be easily influenced and molded. If you spend every day grieving over insignificant things, it is going to negatively influence you. Over long periods of time, this can tear you apart, as negative emotions like anger, sadness, and frustration, can build up long term and affect your relationships, your work or school, and your personal mental health. To counter this, it is important to understand the difference from something "bad happening to you" and something that isn't important. A phone breaking is not important. Failing a class or losing a job is not the end of the world. Losing a friend/girlfriend/boyfriend can be very hard, but in the end, it isn't that important. The death of a pet is sad, but it isn't a crisis. Do not let the temporary problems in life drag you down and negatively affect the greater picture.
Secondly, things will not go as planned. Important things will go wrong. This is something I've really learned in my travels with the New America Singers. On tour, there is a busy plan every single day, and sometimes the plan just does not work. We make it work though, every time. We all have plans in our lives, many are important, but many will go wrong. This is where mental flexibility comes in. When a plan fails, you need to react calmly, roll with what happens, improvise, then do your best to salvage the situation. Instead of sitting around watching your plan fail, or ranting to someone for attention instead of searching for the solution, just analyze the situation, react calmly, and do your best to make it work.
Flexibility will not make your life perfect. Plans are going to fall apart in ways that we just can't fix. Terrible events will happen, so bad that we can't just write it off as unimportant. However, Realizing what really matters, learning to go with the flow and bounce back, will better prepare you to face the real problems in life. So start stretching, and get ready!
