You Can’t Control Life

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{ x } – But You Can Always Control Yourself

This article was originally published on The Tiny Wisdom.

When shit happens, sometimes we take it too much on ourselves. We blame our incapability to deal with the situation, and we might even regret the things we did or did not do.

But there is an easier way to treat the unpredictability of life.

To classify things as something that’s within your control or beyond your control.

Things Beyond Your Control

As you experience the different events in life, you’ll see how there are things that, no matter what you do, you just can’t change.

Those are the external factors that may or may not impact your life directly. The weather, traffic lights, public holidays, bus timings, or seasons – these are some of the external factors of life that you can’t control. You just have to live with it and accept it the way it is.

So when something happens, and it’s beyond your control, why overthink about it?

You know very well that it’s an external factor, and there is no chance that you can change or influence the outcome. Once you have this mindset, you’ll no longer mull over things that have happened.

It may have started as a problem, but once you realised that there was nothing you could do about it, you’ll be able to live with it and let go.

Things Within Your Control

Then, there are things that you can control or at least influence.

For example, the people you hang out with, how you spend your time, what food to eat, or whether you should finish your tasks on time – these are the things that can change with some effort. It’s the internal factors.

How to Solve Your Problems

Sometimes you just have to go through an inconvenient process to solve a problem. Sometimes it needs minimal effort. And some other times, it requires patience.

Whatever it is, you should always stop and think: “Is this something that I can control?”

If you know the things within or beyond your control, you will stop overthinking them and have an easier time figuring out your problems.

Because you know your limit and how far you can influence things, you won’t be thinking about the “What ifs.”

Shit happens, and you can’t do much about it. But you can always control how you would react to it.

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