“Being rigidly attached to your timeline, can make you feel endlessly behind in life.” ~Terri Cole

Dear Universe,

Though Halloween just passed, it seems like the New Year is coming quicker than I could imagine.

Every time I am not thinking of it, I see something that wants to remind me the year is coming to a close.

It’s the holiday décor, the holiday shopping and the billboard.

Yup. A billboard.

About a week ago I was driving home when I saw a billboard flashing at me, asking to join in on the New Year’s bash of dancing and dinner.

I had to do a double take.

It was still October after all, and while I am aware that there isn’t much time left in 2017, this just felt too overwhelming. I felt like the billboard wasn’t advertising a fun night out, but rather a get-your-act-together-countdown.

Because isn’t that what most of us do? We start counting down, putting pressure on ourselves to finish what we need to before we are introduced to a New Year.

We want to enter the New Year with a clean slate, leaving behind what we don’t want to carry ahead.

And while this makes total sense, and there’s nothing wrong with hustling to finish certain things, there can be some harm in jamming everything we can imagine into the next eight weeks.

After all, not every loose end can be tied up tight in a matter of days. Not every dream, goal and vision can come to fruition simply because January is around the corner.

Divine timing doesn’t work that way.

Divine timing doesn’t use the same clock or calendar we do and divine timing certainly doesn’t put a rush order in to overnight our dreams right in time for the holidays.

We see this in nature all the time. We plant a seed and we recognize that in the right season the plant will bloom. We don’t expect the seed to sprout faster, come sooner or blossom when we want. We don’t fret that it will never grow. We just trust that it will be.

But when it comes to ourselves, we have little patience for our own natural process.

When I look back on my own life, I notice a pattern. Things rarely happened when I thought they would or thought they should.

At the time, when I was waiting patiently, praying and working towards the things I wanted most, it felt frustrating when they wouldn’t arrive when I wanted them to.

But with time on my side, I can see that though things didn’t transpire when I wanted them to, they arrived exactly when I needed them to.

And that is so much better.

Sometimes we think we are ready for something, when in actuality, we aren’t.

Sometimes we want something desperately, but later realize something better was meant for us.

Delays and detours often bring us revelations, lessons and growth that we need for the next level of our life. (Tweet that!)

And, something else? Some of the things I wanted so desperately at the time, didn’t work out at all.

I’m grateful they didn’t.

Being open to all possibilities, and not just the ones we are so fixated on, leaves room for the Universe to do its magic and surprise us in new and better ways.

I think most of us, if we take the time to do an honest reflection, can see how that has been true in different moments of our lives.

I try to remind myself of that as I work towards goals today. Depending on the day—or the hour—I can vacillate between feeling patient, calm and trusting that everything is working out as is should, to feeling doubtful, frustrated and ready to throw in the towel on my deepest dreams.

Because I am aware of how things have come together for me in the past, I don’t throw in the towel. Instead, I take a step back, take a deep breath in and remember this one rule:

Forcing things to happen when we want and how we want never works.

When we force that relationship, job, goal, (fill-in-the-blank), to work, it usually ends up crumbling into a heaping mess of dissatisfaction, disappointment and resentment.

So when those edge-of-the-cliff-moments creep up, I try to reset my intention. I focus on holding the vision, working hard to make it happen, and trusting that what’s meant for my highest good will transpire at the right time.

So as this year comes to a close, don’t push so hard for a particular outcome. Don’t put so much pressure on these next eight weeks. Don’t force something to happen just because the year is coming to an end.

Just keep doing the work as you have been. Keep putting the time into your dreams, goals, hopes and visions.

Instead of looking ahead, feeling disappointed at the things that have yet to arrive, look back for a moment and acknowledge how far you’ve come.

Trust that divine timing is always working in your favor. Visualize it as a light wind behind you that is gently pushing you forward and keeping you on track. Don’t work against the wind, work with it.

All you need to do is stay focused on your intention, keep doing your part, and showing up for the work. From there, surrender to the process. Relax into the deep knowing that at some point down the road, you will see how it all fell into place.

It might not happen by December 31^st, but when your dream does arrive, you won’t care so much that it didn’t come exactly when you thought it would, exactly the way you wanted.

Instead, you’ll just be so grateful, that all the timelines and deadlines will long be forgotten, swept away by the winds that brought you here.

With Gratitude,