You Are Exactly Where You’re Supposed to Be

painting of the universe

You are exactly where you're supposed to be.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately, especially because sometimes we have absolutely no idea why we are where we are.

This morning I went to the dentist. Routine visit, until it wasn't. I got bad vibes and left.

In the middle of the appointment. In the middle of a procedure.

Something felt off. There was a sense that something wasn't right. And sometimes, that’s all you need to know. So I left and didn't look back.

Leaving that office, I was reflecting on how much time I had taken to get to this now far-away dentist in my old neighborhood. It was really hot outside too. I was aggravated because I felt like my morning was wasted. And I was uncomfortable. 

I had driven all that way. I had made the appointment. I had gotten myself there. And now I was leaving in the middle of everything.

It felt inconvenient.

It felt frustrating.

It felt like one more thing that didn't go according to plan.

I started driving home and decided to go to the market. A market that I rarely go to, but if I do it would be on the weekend.

Then something unexpected happened. I ran into a childhood friend. And then I ran into another friend.

Two people I would not have expected to see this morning. Two encounters that wouldn't have happened if my morning had gone exactly the way I had planned.

I would have never been at the market in the middle of the day on a weekday had it not been for leaving the dentist's office early.

And that's when it hit me. Maybe my morning wasn't wasted. Maybe leaving the dentist wasn't an interruption to my day. Maybe it was the reason I ended up exactly where I needed to be.

We spend so much time trying to force our days to go according to plan. We schedule the appointment. We map out the route. We decide what we're going to accomplish, when we're going to accomplish it, and how everything is supposed to unfold.

Then something happens.The appointment doesn't go well. The plan changes. We get delayed. We have to leave. We miss something.

And we think we've lost something. We think our time was wasted.We think we're behind.

We think we're supposed to be somewhere else.

But what if the thing that feels like a detour is actually part of the direction? What if leaving is sometimes the very thing that gets you where you were supposed to be?

I could have stayed at that dentist's office. I could have ignored the feeling that something was off because I had already driven so far and didn't want to feel like I'd wasted my time.

I could have convinced myself to stay because I had an appointment and a plan and because leaving in the middle of a procedure felt inconvenient and rude.

But I listened to myself.

I left.

And because I left, I went somewhere I wouldn't have otherwise gone.

And because I went there, I ran into two people that I wouldn't have seen.

There was no way for me to know that when I was sitting in that dentist's office. At the time, all I knew was that something didn't feel right. Sometimes that's how life works.

We don't get the full picture before we make the decision. We don't always get an explanation. We don't get a little note from the universe saying, Don't worry, this is happening because you're about to run into someone who will make your day.

Human beings would apparently like advance notice for everything. Life, unfortunately, did not agree to those terms. Sometimes we just have to trust what we feel. We have to trust that walking away from something doesn't automatically mean we've made a mistake. We have to trust that an unexpected change in plans can create an opportunity.

And maybe most importantly, we have to stop assuming that we know where we're supposed to be.

Maybe you're already there. Maybe the canceled plan, the wrong turn, the unexpected ending, the uncomfortable decision, or the thing that didn't work out is moving you toward something you couldn't have planned for yourself.

If something feels off, listen. If you need to leave, leave. If the plan changes, let it change.

You don't have to spend the rest of the day angry about the place you didn't end up staying.

You might already be exactly where you're supposed to be. You

just might not know why yet.