Trust the Process

Trust the process. This is something I have learned – and sometimes am still learning – to do, but what does it mean to “trust the process”?

Trusting the process doesn’t mean to sit and wait for things to happen, some degree of effort on our part is still required. We still need to work, to explore, to try, to seek opportunities, to take risks and to practice acceptance. What it does mean – in a nutshell – is to expect there to be bumps in the road and to be able to adapt when life throws us a curveball, all while trusting that everything will work itself out.

Everything working itself out doesn’t necessarily mean that everything will work itself out the way we want it to, however, and that is also part of trusting the process. Everything that happens to us – whether we perceive it to be good or bad – has a purpose. We need challenge in order to become stronger and we need to experience difficult times to appreciate the good times. The ability to accept when things don’t go our way, to change course, to create new magic, to look for opportunity in unexpected places and perhaps to try a new path plays a big role in trusting the process.

Socrates said “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Change is not a bad thing. Our lives may not always go in the direction we map out for ourselves, but if we truly pay attention, we realize that we have been going the right way all along. If you take the time to look back at the events in your past, you will start to see how you were guided you to where you are now, and how it was all necessary.

This quote from Douglas Adams says it well: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

Breathe, relax and trust the process.