Expect the Unexpected

Well, it’s the end of a year which means it’s time for me to update my yearly mantra. Usually, I have no clue what my yearly mantra is going to be until like the very last week of December; however, the mantra for 2024 came very early… it is something that has been constantly on mind since late August, and I thought that considering all other things happening in my life right now that it would be a good idea to carry it over as my yearly mantra for 2024. So, what is it? My mantra for 2024 is, “Expect the unexpected.”

I have spent a majority of 2023 in a holding pattern… just waiting. Nothing major has really happened in my life. I have really been on repeat, almost robotic, everyday was the same thing, my weekly schedule looked the same. Life has been very mundane because I’ve been waiting (which is the theme for the next season of Enneagram Restored Podcast).

“Expect the unexpected” has been something that has just been on my heart since late August, but I really got to see what it looks in September. This post that I made on Facebook on September 12 really explains what it means to “Expect the unexpected.”

On Sunday during life group, I talked about how I felt God was speaking to me to expect the unexpected. Well, something that was completely unexpected happened this morning.

Rewind back to May, I participated in all of the graduation festivities, but I knew that I was not actually going to get a diploma because there was a class that I couldn’t complete for certain reasons.

However, last night I got an email from the person over graduation records at Evangel asking me to come to her office as soon as possible. In my mind, I’m prepared for a whole different conversation, but before I even start to talk, she tells me that wanted to give me something. This was definitely an unexpected thing for a Tuesday morning!

I’ve been such an emotional wreck this past week, and this just adds to all the emotions that I’m feeling right now.

Braylon Williams (Facebook.com)

Although I feel this mantra is a great mantra to live by in the next year, it presents a grave problem for someone like me. You see, I’m a person who has a proclivity for making things happen because of my impatience. I’m the type of person who will do everything in my knowledge and power to achieve a goal without having to wait. However, when you’re inclined to live by the mantra, “expect the unexpected,” then you’re also inviting time to stand still because such a mantra like this and the idea of waiting are synonymous. I would even dare to say that you can’t even live by this mantra if you’re not willing to wait.

Which as I’m writing this, I’m realizing how this mantra is also tied to a lesson that I’ve kind of been forced to learn this past year or so. This past year I have been getting sick multiple times in a month and experienced chronic fatigue, and I just haven’t been able to push myself to do anything other than work to make a living. So, I’ve been trying to find a nice balance of rest and working on my entrepreneurial pursuits. And I promise that it hasn’t been easy, because when you’re a person who is driven by accomplishments and recognition of your accomplishments, then you tend to feed the fire as much as possible instead of letting the fire burn on its own.

In the end, it might be challenge to live by this mantra because I’ll have to learn to wait. However, I think that this might be the most beneficial mantra to live by ever because lately my expectations have been so negative and so low because life has been lifing; I’ve become less of an optimist and more of pessimist. So, cheers to “expecting the unexpected!”