One of the definitions of uneven is that something is not regular, consistent, or equal. I saw someone over the weekend who said their new job in a different area of a company felt different from the one they were at before. In terms of management style, how long their co-workers were in their department, and how one department was more open to change and new ideas where the other one was more focused on structure, routine and habit.
Seeing others and situations as being different in some way is common in life. Not only does our energy vary from day to day, but so does the energy in others. Not only are our experiences different but so are other people’s as well. The pressures to perform or to solve a problem or crisis make the context of a situation vary as well.
So just like a surfer, we need to both see the waves and be able to ride them. Not trying to run, hide, or destroy a wave but simply to be able to ride it. Seeing them allows us not to be crushed by them. Riding a wave, with skill, gives us the ability to end our ride with a smile.
You see, so many times we get ourselves into situations that we let both consume and eventually destroy us. There is talent in being able to step back and not get drowned by emotion when things get uneven in our lives. Talent appears when you are able to remember your direction and your goals without letting the mess or setback you are in today derail you.
We also need to recognize that situations cannot always produce the “bang” we hoped for when being in them. Just like sometimes the ocean has waves, there are other times when the stillness of the waters deceives us into thinking that waves never appear.
In times like these, patience is required of us to go about our work with effort, not looking for an immediate result but understanding that with consistent effort on our part plus time a new wave will appear for us to ride.
And when the waves do appear, unexpectedly, we also need the patience to understand that we must not over-react at the beginning because we don’t know if they will be short lived or not.
Life is uneven for all of us. Embrace it, remain calm during storms, and always be mindful that riding a wave without being capsized is sometimes the best we can do when things don’t appear to be going in our favor. Living our lives is a long game and is never that short for us to stop trying.