Image by: BKD
By James Reubin

How do you deal with the uncertainties in your life? Do you have a special way of telling that things will work in your favor?

Two months from now, my friend Jerry and his wife will be celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary. I am so fascinated by their love story, how they met and how they are keeping their relationship strong.

I wasn’t a fan of online dating. I believed that it was impossible to develop a genuine connection with someone whom you just met on a glass screen. Don’t get me wrong, for me it was okay to make friends or socialize online but to find someone to share the rest of your life with through a dating app was just insane.

That’s why when Jerry told me five years ago that he would travel across the world to meet his virtual GF in person; I did everything that I could to stop him. But man, he was really into her.

In the piece “Why You Should Meet Your SO in Real Life, Not on a Dating App,” writer Paul Hudson raises a good point when he states that the problem is not with the technology itself but with how people get used to the instant gratification that it brings.

Technology makes life easier and better. As a result, people indulge themselves in a shallow sort of wanting so much that they forget what it takes to create something worth creating.

I thought Jerry was doomed the moment he boarded that plane and left the country but he proved me wrong. In fact, his story made me realize that:

“If you’re going to doubt something, doubt your own limits.”

The success of a relationship doesn’t depend on where and how you meet the person but on the effort you put into it. It is bound to fail from the very start if you’re not willing to always put your best self forward and if you’re not willing to give it 100%.

There is really no telling if our plans would work in our favor but we can choose to reduce potential risks.

People are afraid to take chances because they do not want to sabotage their own safety. However, there are ways to control the situation to minimize the possible damages.

As a digital marketer, for example, when you have a limited budget to advertise your brand, you have to be cash-conscious and slow down on your spending. Instead of wasting your money on a social influencer, you can try to maximize the power of data to make the customers purchase your product.

Writer Deren Baker explains how a data-driven approach is more customer-centric compared to paying for people to market your brand.

An effective data strategy would help you identify what your customers are really looking for. In effect, you would be able to optimize your content and craft the most appropriate format that would work best for your brand.

Happiness doesn’t depend on stability but on your ability to explore, have fun and be creative in your life.

In the piece “Why I Choose a Happy Life Over a Stable Career,” writer Mark Denicola explains that happiness requires more than just job security but your ability to contribute to your own satisfaction.

When you think of quitting your job to pursue your passion, it is normal for your mind to work against you and resist your idea. But the things is, it is important that you make time to engage your passions and creatively find a way to turn it into your career so that your work won’t make you feel that you’re just “surviving” every day.

Try to adopt an attitude that makes you trust yourself more and when you do, just surrender yourself to the outcomes of your decisions and actions and let the moon and the stars take care of the rest.

Allow yourself to enjoy the things that go right.

Learn to appreciate yourself more, your efforts and your creativity. The reason why people feel defeated all the time is because they always focus on the things that go wrong. They fail to see the positive side of things because they are so distracted by their surroundings.

Mahesh Rajagopalan calls it the “state of being ON,” or being unable to draw the line between what is urgent and what is important.

Unplugging from technology and carving out personal time will make you feel happier, healthier and more connected to yourself and to the world. It also allows you to make decisions from a fresher perspective and be more confident about it.

So whether you’re spending quality time with yourself or with your loved ones, stop checking your phone, refrain from opening your emails and ditch your playlist. Turn off all these distractions and just concentrate on your self-reflection and creative breathers.

It is not easy to face an ambiguous future. Appreciating the mysteries of the world and embracing life uncertainties takes determination, time and practice. So, whenever you’re feeling unsure about the road ahead, acknowledge your own free will and choose to focus on the bright side of things.