Is living in the unknown scary, exciting, or a mixture of both?

In today’s world, we are constantly told we need a plan of where we want our lives to go or we are asked where we see ourselves in 5 to 10 years.

I graduated college almost three months ago and to be very honest with you all, I was scared half to death. During college, we are constantly lectured that when we graduate we need to have it all figured out, know exactly what we want to do, where we want to live, and have the next 5 years of our lives planned out or we will not be successful. Excuse me? As a girl who majored in one of the broadest majors there are did not know the answer to any of these questions, and it honestly made me feel like a failure or that I was disappointing the people around me. I am here to tell you as a 3-month post-grad girly, I am still living in the complete unknown of what I am doing and what is coming next, but guess what? That’s okay! The beauty of it is that we do not have to have it all figured out because we know the One who holds tomorrow!

The unknown seasons of our lives can truly be such a beautiful time if we allow it to be. I heard a comparison of our life plans to a wet bar of soap. I know this sounds crazy but stick with me. If you hold a wet bar of soap too tight, it will slip right out of your hands. If you just allow it to sit in your open hand, it’ll move around, but stay in control. This is how we should view holding on to our plans for our lives. It’s okay to have dreams and desires for your life, but don’t hold onto them so tight that you aren’t open to the plans God has for you.

This comparison has helped me to see that for a while I was holding onto Dacey’s plans a little too tight and not being as open as I should be to the plans God had for me. If anyone knows me, I am an extreme planner. I like to plan out every day to the T. I was the kid that at the age of 10 knew exactly how I wanted my life to pan out. I wanted to finish school, be married at 19 (like my parents of course), have 3 kids by 30, and be a stay-at-home mom. This plan sounded so perfect to me, and any other plan just sounded horrible. Well, I am here to tell you today, that I am 22, and Dacey’s 10-year-old self’s plan is not working out how she thought it would. But that is okay!! Just because my plans aren’t going how I thought they would, that just means God has a better plan in store for me and you if you can relate to 10-year-old Dacey’s plans! I encourage you to loosen the grip on your plans even though it may be a little scary at first! Remember the One who created you and everything around you knows what is best for you and what is to come in your life! Trust Him, He’s got it under control!

In Matthew 6:34, God calls us to not be anxious about tomorrow because if He clothes the grass of the field, will He not clothe you even more than the grass? God wants us to believe that He will provide for us, and we should not worry about what is to come in our futures. This is why the unknown seasons and times of our lives can be such sweet and faithful times with the Lord. When we have no plans at all for our lives, it allows us to be more open to the plans God has for us. In this unknown season of my own life, I have no plan like my 10-year-old self did. I still have dreams and desires of being a wife and mom one day, but right now, God has a different plan for my life and those dreams and desires will come in God’s perfect timing if it is His will for me to be a wife and a mom one day.

Changing our perspective of the unknown from scared to excited allows us to open our eyes and hearts to what all God could do in this season of our lives! When we have no idea, God knows it all. He knows where we are going to be in 5 years even though we don’t. He knows where we will live tomorrow or in the next few years, even though we don’t have a clue. I encourage whoever is reading this and myself who feels like they have no idea what they are doing in life right now to do whatever we do with open hands for God’s plan and to be expectant of what He can and will do in our lives. Do I understand everything right now? Of course not, but I am thankful we love and follow a God who calls us to trust Him and lean not on our understanding. Being in the unknown is okay, even if you have been told your whole life you need to have it all figured out.

In this season of life, lean into Him and trust that He will lead and guide you to exactly where you are meant and called to be. Fully lean into Him. God knew you before you were in your mother’s womb. Girl, He knows you by name, and His love for you is unmatched.

The Creator of the world knows you, and in Jeremiah 29:11, He tells us that He knows the plans for our lives. If this isn’t reassuring, I don’t know what is. Believe this and this season of your life might just become the most exciting one yet!

Dacey Triplett is an LO ambassador and has been writing for LO since 2023! She just graduated from Appalachian State University with a Bachelors in Public Relations. 

“A big part of who I am is that I was born with Achondroplasia dwarfism. I know that’s a really big word but all it means is that I was born with short limbs which means I’ll only be about 4ft tall for my whole life. It would have been easy for me to let this define who Dacey would be, but God had something else in mind. He took what the world would have called a mistake and turned it into a blessing. God can turn anything around, and He definitely did in my life! He used my dwarfism to give me a story, and now I get the opportunity to tell my story to thousands of people! If you can learn anything from me, I’d encourage you to be the you that God created you to be!! “

Keep up with Dacey on social media – @dace.trip