What If You're Right On Time?
- Chloe Markham
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
I recently started watching Race Against The World for the first time. And I’m into it. I now have a list as long as my right arm of places I want to visit.
But mostly I’ve recognised, in the plight of the endless number of buses and missed connections and delays and upset… it always works out in the end. Somehow. Perhaps not the way they wanted or expected. But always somehow.
A ‘bad thing’ happens, they have a strop about the thing, and a solution they couldn’t possibly have imagined saves them.
A stranger offers a free lift, or a free meal, or a bed for the night.
The boat left late anyway, so they didn’t end up missing it.
There was a magical KFC on the corner so he didn’t have to eat local food he didn't enjoy for a minute.
They lost a map but that forced them into the perfect solution to catch up 30 hours on their competitors.
All to say: what if we’re exactly on time, in exactly the right place, and in exactly the right moment we’re supposed to be?
I’ve been guilty of this lately. Struggling with various aspects of my life, my work, and sitting in the gloom with it. Feeling sorry for myself. And a pity party is useful — we should absolutely allow ourselves to feel our feelings.
But these times present us with an opportunity to have hope, too. We should all have hope. Optimism for a magical solution to come from somewhere as yet unknown to us. Because that’s sort of how life works.
So don’t worry too much if you’ve lost your map. If you’ve missed the train you needed. If you’re struggling to see the way ahead.
The stoics would tell us to accept it and allow and control only that which we can control. And trust that magic is around every corner. Even when you don’t believe me, even when you’re feeling more stuck than ever. Trust in that.
And who knows what gorgeous place you’ll end up.
