This morning, there was a slight drizzle hanging in the air. Not enough to be called proper rain, but not so little as to not warrant an umbrella either — or so I thought.
On my way to work, out of hundreds of people, only a handful had their umbrellas open. At every next intersection, I was the odd one out. “Am I crazy?” I thought. I closed the umbrella. Drip, drip, drip. “Nope, still getting wet here.” And flap, back open it went.
At some point during my 20-minute walk, it hit me: “I have no idea where these people are going. Maybe they’re only walking 100 meters to get a pretzel, across the street to their office, or somewhere else where they don’t need an umbrella.” When I, on the other hand, walk a mile to work, I don’t want to do so in a constant drizzle — and so I’ll keep my umbrella open, regardless of whether it makes me look stupid or not.
Life is like that, you know? You have no idea where other people are going. So don’t worry about how your journey looks.
Maybe you’re wearing gloves in September, because your hands just get cold faster than most people’s. Maybe you ride your bike even when it’s snowing, because you love it and every minute counts. Or maybe your career looks like a jumbled mess to most employers, but for you each next job was the right piece of the puzzle, and they’re slowly starting to fall into place.
If you don’t want to get wet, keep your umbrella open. And even if the whole world is dancing in the rain, you’ll be dry and happy.