Control and Surrender

My favorite style of vacation is a balance between planned and unplanned. I like to have a few things sketched in, with a lot of time in between for random stuff to happen. If the entire vacation is planned out, there is no opportunity for “tripendipity,” my son’s word for that unexpected travel magic.

Then again, if you leave the entire vacation up to chance, everything goes to hell really fast.

So I think it’s best in life to keep a balance between control and surrender. The trip will be better.

I don’t think I’ve tried the 100% control approach, but I have tried 100% surrender, in 1979. I took the wheel again after five months, having almost died of hunger and pneumonia. The story “Into the Wild” captures very well the flavor of my life at that time. I came away from the experience with a new and permanent appreciation of food, a new connection with music and with the divine, and experimental evidence that I’d better steer my own ship a bit!

If I try to control everything, I will limit my life to the size of my imagination. If I control nothing, my life will shrink, fast. One will kill you with stress, the other with starvation.

As usual, the truth is in between. Or maybe it’s possible to surrender and be in control at the same time, like river rafting.

This was my conclusion after the five months: Steer the ship, and keep a finger to the wind.