Everybody Has A Plan

There’s this Mike Tyson quote that I’m going to paraphrase

He says ‘everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.’

And whether he said it or it was some other person

The point of the quote is that we always continue learning

And more often or not that education arrives

Not through gentle lessons where we have time to survive the guide that’s being implied

Not through books where we can read at our pace and in our space without a fist finding its way to our face

And not from the mentors and guides who supply wisdom from up on high

Pulling us to one side while they show us truths in front of our eyes

No, that’s not always how lessons are learned

Our greatest source of discovering our self

Happens on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm when we weren’t anticipating anything else

When we get blindsided by an event that we didn’t expect

Or surprised by a friend we now have to forget

These things you can’t plan for, come out of the blue

And they’re the real test of what makes you, you.

What to do with these bolts that we can’t control

Do we stand like a rabbit and as headlights bear down on our soul?

It’s easy to retreat in defeat, feeling like we’ve been beat

Nursing our pride as we just stare at our feet

Or we could get angry and lash out, strike back wildly at ghosts

Swing fists and insults at whoever is close

Or…or…

We could take the opportunity while our nose is all broken

Leaking into a tissue as the blood starts soaking

Through to our fingers. It reminds us that we exist

It’s reminding us of a lesson that shouldn’t be missed

We need to stand up to the unexpected

Take the punch as it snaps our neck. We suspected

We were weak but we need to be brave

Learn the lesson of when those five fingers of the fist firmly found our face.

To stay calm when harm tries to disarm us

To not be angry and to not react badly when we think we must.

To be the better person, and control our response

Measured reaction. Determined resolve.

And I get that that’s hard, and I’m asking a lot

And if it was Mike Tyson punching you, it wouldn’t be something that you forgot

But take a breath on that Tuesday afternoon, think about what it is you’re going to do.

Think about how you react when you’ve been brought down a notch or two.

That will determine your future, it will shape who you become.

And the bloody nose will be a memory and just something that you learnt so much from.

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face

But not everyone knows it's a moment you must embrace