YOU HAVE AN IMPACT
In such a chaotic world, with our every decision adding to the chaos, how do we not lose our minds? By controlling the ONLY thing that we can: Our reactions.
The world is a crazy, chaotic place. Got it. Are we just standing there watching the craziness swirl around us? Of course not! We are in there. We are a part of it. We add to the madness. Why would we do that? What would possess us to make things more nuts? Wouldn’t it be far better to try and calm things down, to bring some sort of sanity to madness?
Sure, that’s what we all try to do. That’s what we think we are doing. We make decisions hoping everything will just chill out already!!! But our efforts are, ultimately, futile. By making decisions and acting on them, we create chaos. Even in an attempt to reduce chaos, we increase chaos.
I am not suggesting that you are the harbinger of doom and destruction, or even that your decision making process is equivalent to a three year old chasing a cat. This is not an admonition, but an acknowledgment. If you are going to do anything in this world, you are going to change something. Life is change: change is chaos; ergo life is chaos. Welcome to the party.
Decisions & Chaos
We react to change. We respond when something happens. Someone pokes you in the belly and you giggle. There is an action and a reaction. We are constantly reacting to all of the “action” in the world. We all do it. That’s the way it works. The question is then: how do we react to change? How do we react to the chaos?
We react to the chaos by making decisions. Even though our decisions add to the chaos, we go ahead and make them anyway. It’s an endless loop: Chaos, decision, chaos, decision, etc. etc. ad infinitum. Some of these decisions we make are huge, ground-shaking decisions, like deciding to move your family across the country. Some are much smaller, such as taking your next step (left foot or right?).
You control how you react to this world. Your decisions, great and small, are yours and yours alone. How you decide to handle what life throws at you is the one place where you hold all the cards. Amid the swirling chaos you raise your decisions like a sail in the wind and guide your boat wherever you desire. Chaos be damned.
Much of what life is is what happens to us. We wake up every morning to the Life Chaotic and it starts hurling things at us. To snooze or not to snooze? Squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle or from the end? Lather, rinse, repeat or is once enough? Little decisions piled on little decisions. The day progresses just like that. It is within these small decisions where life takes shape. It’s the little changes that add up to make the big things that define who we are. This is where we need to concentrate our efforts because this is where we can make the most impact.
The Domino Effect
We’ve all seen those intricate domino chain reactions: one push and all hell breaks loose. Our decisions are like that first domino: the start of a chain reaction. We’ve all tried to set up one of those intricate domino design things. And we’ve all built one where the push of the first domino doesn’t do diddly-do. It slides off the next one, or it misses the second domino completely. Yeah, that’ll happen. But when it works, you marvel at the beautiful twisty intricacy of what you have just set in motion.
Every decision you make is like that first domino.
It should also be noted that, using the same principles (and analogy, for that matter) the push of the first domino can set off a chain reaction that can topple a skyscraper. This gif stopped well short of that, but you get the idea…
If you ever find yourself thinking, “what I do doesn’t matter”, I am going to have to politely remind you to stop that trivializing thinking. Not only does what you do matter, it can, and often does, have a monumental impact not only on those around you, but on you as well. What you need to do is look out at the vast trail of dominoes spread out before you and try to consider what might happen with the next domino you tip over. YOU MIGHT CRUSH A SKYSCRAPER, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! You have the power within your little finger to change the world.
Give Yourself Some Credit
When you grasp the power you have in that little finger of yours, it is time to consider the impact of your reactions. The next time you find yourself haphazardly reacting to something that has happened, take a moment to evaluate the consequences of that reaction. In certain circumstances, overanalyzing why or how something happened is far less important than evaluating our reaction to it and learning from it. Ask yourself if, by reacting differently, could you have made the situation better or worse? Could you have made yourself happier? Could you have made someone else happy? Could you have made a bunch of people happy?
Most of your decisions won’t require such scrutiny. To start walking with your left or right foot isn’t going to make anyone happy (unless you are in a marching band). But there are decisions you make that can and will have repercussions. Try to, at minimum, be aware of that.
In such a chaotic world, with our every decision adding to the chaos, how do we not lose our minds? By controlling the ONLY thing that we can: Our reactions. The very least we can do for ourselves and others is be an agent for chaotic good.
Now where is that cat?