Go With The Flow

In my opinion life is really complicated and full of challenges for two separate but similar reasons. One, the world is constantly changing and evolving. And two, we as human beings are constantly changing and evolving as we grow and mature. One of those reasons alone would be enough to create problems but put the two together and life can seem overwhelming at times. So what do we do?

Early yesterday morning I went for a walk on the beach about two miles south of my house. I hadn’t been that far south for over a month and I was shocked at what I saw. The recent storms and huge waves have dramatically changed the shoreline along that stretch of beach. The sand in front of many of the homes is basically gone and the waves come all the way up to the patios. The water has done tremendous damage. In fact I saw where concrete support pylons were knocked down on several homes creating a really dangerous situation. There were tons of sand bags in place but the power of the ocean still won the battle. I have been coming to this area for over twenty years and witnessing the constant changes in the shoreline every year. Yesterday really punctuated the fact that the world is constantly changing and if we’re going to survive, we need to adapt and learn to go with the flow.

Yesterday afternoon I played baseball at Fullerton College. It was one of our regular Sunday baseball games, which I always enjoy, but not a normal one for me. You see age is finally catching up to me and I now have so many different pains in so many different parts of my body I can’t figure out which one to focus on first. However, the pain in my body was nothing compared to the pain in my ego as I made multiple errors at multiple positions. I should have stayed on the bench but we only had 9 guys so they were forced to play me. I was really starting to get depressed, but when our Manager said, “You know, it’s okay to catch a ball out there once in a while if you want to” it was hard not to laugh. He was trying to loosen me up and after the game he reminded me that I have had lots of great games in which I played well and that everyone has a bad day once in a while. I guess the one good thing about being older is that I do have good memories to fall back on…and that helps me to be able to go with the flow when things go wrong personally.

The world is constantly changing just as we are constantly changing from the moment we are born. So how do we handle all this change? We need to realize that in life there will always be problems and there will always be solutions and that in between…that is where life flows… So go with the flow!

Rough waves knock out concrete pylons at Capo Beach

I think I've discovered the secret of life. You just
hang around and go with the flow until you get used to it.
~ Charles Schulz