You Don’t Have to Figure it All Out

Last Updated on April 26, 2025 by The Unbounded Thinker

Our unique human ability to perceive the future, which enables us to imagine possibilities, anticipate outcomes, and plan ahead, is both a gift and a curse. Unlike animals that live moment to moment, we possess the ability to think about what might happen tomorrow, next year, or decades from now. This ability has given rise to civilizations, but it has also burdened us with anxiety and restlessness.

We want to know the results of our actions and decisions, whether they’ll lead us to success or failure, joy or regret. We want to know who we will become, if our dreams will come true, and whether the things we work for will bear fruit. We want to figure it all out. We want guarantees. We want control. We are always expecting, anticipating, and imagining ourselves in moments that might never manifest.

This has prevented us from experiencing the beauty of life. Instead of fully living in the present moment, we spend our days trying to figure it all out.

And then, often too late, we realize what we’ve lost. We spend our dying days thinking about why we missed all of life. We wonder why we were so focused on the destination that we forgot to enjoy the journey. We realize that all the things we were trying to figure out were never the point: the point was to live, to feel, to experience physical reality while fully conscious. But by then, it will be too late.

My spiritual journey has enabled me to realize that life becomes better when stop trying to figure it all out. This happens when you decide to just focus on what you can do now, and stop obsessing about what will happen in the future. When you realize that the present moment is the only moment you can truly experience because the future is not guaranteed.

This approach makes life a magical experience. As you let go of the need to fully understand how your life will turn out, you gradually forget all your worries, fears, and attachments. A mysterious sense of oneness begins to arise. You start noticing a sense of unity between you and whatever it is you’re doing. Whether you’re working, walking, resting, or simply breathing, you become fully immersed in the moment, losing all sense of separation between the observer and the activity.

Time, once a source of pressure and stress, begins to lose its grip as it starts to move faster. Days pass quickly, and before you know it, weeks and months are gone. Life feels easier and you start to experience a blissful high, a natural euphoria that comes from being free of stress, fear, and overthinking.

The future, which you always obsess about, no longer concerns you. In fact, the uncertainty of life becomes a thrilling mystery rather than a source of anxiety. You embrace it with open arms, understanding at a deep level that no matter how hard you try, you can never fully control what will happen. Good or bad, success or failure, joy or sorrow, any outcome can arise, no matter how well or poorly you live your life.

You realize that striving for a guaranteed good life is a futile pursuit because life is unpredictable. This realization frees you. Instead of resisting, you learn to ride the ever-changing winds of life, like a leaf carried gently by the breeze. You become less concerned with destinations and more eager to see where the current will take you. Each twist and turn becomes an adventure, and living itself becomes a wondrous, unfolding journey.

You, therefore, live an amazing life when you finally understand that you don’t have to figure everything out.  When you notice that no matter how hard you think or how much you plan, life will always be full of surprises. When you eventually realize that life is a mysterious and complex puzzle that no human being can fully solve.

Instead of trying to control everything, you begin to enjoy the journey. You accept the ups and downs, the questions without answers, and the moments that don’t make sense. And in doing so, you find peace. You live more freely, more lightly, and more joyfully as you let go and stop trying to make sense of every little thing.  You stop chasing answers and start enjoying the experience. You realize that life isn’t meant to be figured out completely: it’s meant to be lived, one moment at a time.