Chaos Is a Way of Life for Some

Others prefer an orderly progression of routines and habits

In the scientific world, the definition of chaos is complete disorder and confusion. In Jurassic Park, the chaos theory is the study of seemingly random effects of unpredictable behavior.

It is why the scientist played by Jeff Goldblum predicted the Park would fail because of unforeseen and unpredictable events. He was right.

But in everyday life, chaos is just a natural part of our day. No matter how we try to structure our lives, moving along from task to task, something always comes along to upset the apple cart.

People with young children know all too well about this form of chaos. No matter how orderly and defined your schedule may be, children can transform it into chaos.

But chaos doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

Everybody has a different lifestyle. We all know people whose homes are right out of House Beautiful, the interior decorating magazine.

Everything is set piece perfect. Spick and span. A place for everything and everything in its place. I am betting, call me wild and unpredictable, these people don’t have kids.

Conversely, all of us know people who live alone and you literally cannot see the floor. You know intuitively it is there but it’s buried under half-empty pizza boxes, fast food containers, and piles of unwashed clothes.

College students are natural denizens of such a chaotic environment. They seem to thrive on it. They can unerringly pick out that important term paper or the relevant edition of Cliff’s Notes they need at the last moment.

To each his own. Most people try their best to arrange a lifestyle somewhere in between. Or they should at least try.

We all have things to do, places to go, and people to see. On a normal day, these are all safe, predictable, and routine. Most of us, especially young people, also have children around.

It is in striking that delicate balance between chaos and order that most of us have to make concessions, bargain and negotiate, and finally strike a happy medium where everything is balanced and organized. Yeah right.

Easier said than done. A wise man once said that most people lead lives of quiet desperation. He lived by a lake, which doesn’t sound that desperate to me. I guess he didn’t like swimming, boating, or skipping stones.

The point he was trying to make is that most people surrender to the mostly self-imposed demands of their own assumed responsibilities.

They surrender to the lifestyle of work for work’s sake, and they become workaholics. They can’t see the forest for the trees.

After a while, they slip into a routine of work, eat, sleep, and then back to work. They don’t leave any time for fun, spontaneity or whimsy.

Every day is a grind, an ordeal, filled with drudgery and tasks that must be completed. Or what? Armageddon? It doesn’t have to be that way.

Don’t let this happen to you. There is always an off-ramp to happiness.

The happiest people are those who have a flexible approach to life. Yes, we all need to work to make money to live on. But did you ever notice how yesterday’s crisis is today’s afterthought?

Life is not that serious. We are born, we live and we die. We have to fill in the blanks ourselves, and sometimes we just have to wing it.

We need to make room for all the unexpected twists and turns of fate that make every day an adventure. You know, the fun parts.

We can learn a lot from our children, or if we have none, we can adopt a more carefree lifestyle just for our own satisfaction.

Remember the old proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Life is made to be enjoyed. Try it, you’ll like it. We are all connected…