Hartstein: Trusting uncertainty

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” — Ernest Hemingway

I like to surf, and people often say that surfers tend to “go with the flow.” There’s a very specific part of surfing that I attribute this phrase to: the paddle out. Indulge me while I get into a little bit of surfer lingo for those unfamiliar with the sport.

There are two “areas” in surfing: what they call the inside and the outside. The inside is the area in front of the waves, extending from the shore all the way out to where the waves break. Once you get past that point, you are considered to be outside. The paddle out is the process of getting from the inside to the outside. Once you are past where the waves break, you can sit on your board to rest and recover, with the comfort of knowing that no more waves are going to smash you on the head, push you backward, or swirl you around in the current. The inside is where the struggle happens; the outside is where you can relax.

As a young surfer, the paddle out is often a fervor. You paddle as hard and as long as you can, hoping to get to the outside before the next set of waves come and slam you with foam and whitewater. Trying to get to the outside in this manner is a matter of brute strength and stubborn ignorance. More often than not, you don’t make it past the waves, you use up all your energy trying, and when the next set of waves comes, you are helplessly washed back to shore.

As you get older and wiser, you begin to learn how to truly “go with the flow.” In time, you slowly come to understand that the ocean is far more powerful than even the fittest of young athletes. You can sense and feel when the ocean has you firmly in its grip, and only after many years of battling the power of the sea do you learn that this uncertainty is actually the time to be calm. The time to trust. No amount of paddling is going to free you from the ocean’s mighty dominion. Instead, it’s better to just rest on the board, conserve your strength and energy, and wait for the ocean’s currents to release you. You can literally feel it: The ocean will pull you backward, away from your goal of getting to the outside, until there is a moment of relief — which is your signal to paddle. Said another way, you can only experience relief, when you have something to be relieved from (thanks uncertainty).

While there is no point in fighting the ocean, once it lets you go, it’s time to get to work! You put all your strength, vigor, and focus into paddling to get to the outside with the hope that you can beat the next set of waves. Often, you make it out and can relax and catch your breath. Other times, the next set of waves comes crashing down, and you are forced to trust uncertainty once more and wait for the right moment to paddle. This is called surrender.

Surrender isn’t giving up. It’s trust. When you surrender, it doesn’t mean ceasing to try or being passive, as some might think. No, in this case, surrender means letting go of the need to control everything. You can take my word for it as a surfer: It doesn’t take long to figure out you can’t control the ocean. Just like you can’t control life’s unknowns.

When you surrender, you release the tension of trying to force things to happen. You surrender to the flow. In this example of surfing and yielding to the ocean’s power, you’re not just letting go of the need to control — you’re literally and figuratively “going with the flow,” which is why I think of surfing when I hear that expression.

Surrender isn’t just trusting that it will work out. It’s allowing yourself to be guided; you open yourself up to receive. And often, through surrendering, what comes to you is far greater than what comes to you through force or domination. In this case, you have enough energy to paddle to the outside, get to a safe place, and, ideally, catch a wave — all much better than the alternative of trying to impose your will on something you cannot control.

When you learn to trust life’s uncertainty, you learn to surrender. You go with the flow, remembering that just because you can’t see the change doesn’t mean it’s not happening. So often, the biggest changes are occurring unseen, beneath the surface, like a seed germinating underground before it breaks through. You wouldn’t dig up the seed every day to see if it’s growing. No, instead, you trust the unseen process of what’s happening below the surface.

Trusting uncertainty means planting your goals, tending to the soil, watering them, and then releasing the attachment to how your goals come about. You have to trust that in time, if you’ve done your part, your dreams and ambitions will grow and flourish, even if you can’t see the seed growing. You trust the natural process. You trust that the ocean will eventually release you, just as you trust that your effort will eventually bear fruit.

The point of this story is to remind you to trust uncertainty. While we may crave the comfort of knowing what will happen next while demanding guarantees, it is the unpredictable nature of life that is the real gift. Uncertainty is what fills life with exciting possibilities. So, instead of seeking certainty, seek to trust uncertainty. When you can embrace uncertainty and believe that it’s all happening for you and not to you, even if you can’t see how in that moment, the inherent uncertainty of life becomes an adventure rather than a threat.

True joy isn’t found in a clear path, but in the trust that guides you through life’s unknowns. 

Trust uncertainty, certainly.

Thanks for reading my stories and paying with your attention. I hope they make you smile and think.

Landon Hartstein is the founder of AspenDroneCompany.com, a media production company specializing in elevated marketing and strategic solutions for realtors, contractors and local business. For AI automation and aerial marketing contact him at Landon@AspenDroneCompany.com. To suggest story ideas or just to say hi, contact him at LandonLikeAPlaneWrites@Gmail.com.