You Can't Choose the Times. You Can Choose Your Next Step.

This morning, I opened an old Hotmail account. One I've had since before Microsoft bought Hotmail, back when having an email address was still something new.

Tucked into my signature was a line I must have added decades ago:

A journey of a thousand miles begins at the spot under one’s feet.— Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64

I don't remember why I put it there. But after all these years, it somehow feels more relevant than ever.

Life has a peculiar way of reminding us how little we control. You can spend years building something, learning your craft, making careful decisions, only to watch circumstances change overnight. Jobs disappear. Plans collapse. Doors close, sometimes without even the courtesy of an explanation.

I've been there. When I moved to a new country, I spent my nights unloading trucks and my days looking for work. I had no idea what tomorrow would bring, but tomorrow kept coming anyway.

Every generation has faced its share of uncertainty. The circumstances change, but that feeling of standing on uncertain ground is painfully familiar. History rarely asks whether we're ready.

We've been here before. And we'll be here again.

We wait for better circumstances, for an opportunity, for some indication that things will work out. And while we're waiting, life keeps moving.

Sometimes the only sensible thing is to change direction, learn something new, ask for help, or start over. Sometimes we need a little time to figure out what matters anymore.

None of it comes with guarantees. Some efforts lead nowhere, and some setbacks take longer to recover from than we'd like.

But there's hope in knowing that even when the future is beyond our control, the next decision is still ours to make.

Maybe that's what I was trying to remind myself all those years ago.

You can't choose the times. You can choose your next step.