Being in the right place at the right time is important. Everyone knows that. And usually people relate that saying to someone finding 100 bucks on the street or getting two items from the vending machine when you only paid for one (boo-yah). But what not everyone knows, or thinks about really is that the right place and the right time can also be a bad thing.
Let me break it down for you. Three years ago I was on the beach enjoying my day, laying out catching some rays. (I think there were also Cheetos present making it an even better day). I was at that blissful stage where you're about to fall asleep (cheeto coma) but not quite there yet and if you are woken up you feel so discombobulated. Anyways. I was woken up...not by a person but by a bird. And not by the physical bird but by its poop...landing right on the center in my forehead. "What are the odds?!" I exclaimed wildly to no one in particular. I looked up and I saw the bird flapping away into the distance, not a care in its little bird world. I mean of this whole dang beach, huge wide open sands, billions of miles of open ocean, the bird chooses to air bomb me! Me of all people- from 15 feet above, right in between the eyes! What luck. Now, everyone says getting pooped on is good luck but that is just something people tell you to make you feel better that you have bird excrement all over yourself so I don’t believe it, not for a second.
Ok, I know what you’re thinking. That I was being dramatic and I probably huffed and puffed and went home crying. But no, it wasn't the end of the world. I sauntered to the ocean and washed it off (it was good I needed to wash off my cheesy fingers anyways) and laid back down and tried to complete my nap. But my mind was racing and all I could think about was being in the right place at right time.
Post graduating college and moving on to becoming somewhat of a functioning adult I have thought about this more and more. I am a firm believer in fate and many things have popped up in my life lately that confirm my belief. I have run into old friends at random on the street, people I used to work with in coffee shops. I have sat on the subway unintentionally with camp counselors from when I was 8. I have gotten auditions because of someone I knew meeting a casting director on a train and talking me up. And I am now dating a wonderful guy who I met 4 years ago because I decided to go to my friend’s lake house on a whim one summer. We lost touch and then by fate both ended up in NYC and reconnected. What are the odds? I’ll tell ya. Each of these encounters was totally dependent on where I was and at what time and place. Each circumstance could have turned out radically different if I had chosen a different subway car or had been 5 minutes late. I also learned another important nugget of info- that there isn't any way to really control right place/ right time because the unexpectedness of it makes it what it is (does that make sense?)
That idea, the one I just said, drives me a little mad because I am the type of person that likes plans. I like things set in stone and plans neatly laid out and organized and this whole "leave it up to the gods!" idea drives my anxiety to a whole new level. But, it also sets me free in a way (yay optimism!). It helps me let go a little and lose control in a nice and controlled manner. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a lesson you learn when you grow up (or begin to grow up- I am not really sure where I am at right now I will have to get back to you). Going with the flow is something my mom and sister are GREAT at. Experts even...gurus I dare say? And I am not. If the flow was a calm river and going with it meant you had to be a wet noodle then I am plywood bobbing down rapids. No really I am. The term "bent out of shape" is something I know super well.
But, the older I get (each passing minute of each day) I find that letting go and letting fate do its thing is helpful and useful to adulting (thanks ry for this word). Not saying I wake up every morning and I lay in bed waiting for stuff to happen to me like Kate Hudson does for movie roles (she has Goldie Hawn to thank for that)- I still go out and pound the pavement to try and achieve my dreams, step by step. And I realized that a big part of doing that is taking a step back once and a while, taking a breath and letting shit work itself out.
So, whether it's bird poop or a big career opportunity, I take each fateful moment of right place, right time in stride. And I think you should too.