Some years ago, I had a pastor who was very fond of repeating his favorite beatitude, one that does not happen to be in the Bible but one that reflects the thoughts of many people: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.” Of course, said all too often, like any statement, such a comment can easily become a pat cliche without meaning, but like most cliches there is some kernel of insight that can be found from examining it even if most of the time the comment is used to distance oneself from too much thinking and musing. As is the case in so many areas of life, distance from musing and pondering is a personal issue that can occasional cause difficulties.

There are many occasions for being flexible in life, and often flexibility can be a great help in reducing anxiety, something I need a great deal of help in. For example, msot of the time I am someone who generally likes to think things and plan things out ahead of time. This does not mean I like to micromanage the future, recognizing what a futile task that would be (especially given the absolutely wacky nature of my own life), but rather that I like some idea of where I am going so I have some idea of what tasks I need to accomplish and what goalposts to measure my progress against. I tend to get frustrated without something to achieve or some progress towards my most heartfelt goals.

There are many areas where flexibility can be greatly helpful in these tasks. For one, knowing what aspects of life are most important allows one to make decisions reflecting those values. Depending on our priorities we will make different decisions, with different levels of strictness. Some things we will be more flexible on in light of that which we consider more important or more necessary. Flexibility in some parts of life requires stability in other parts of life. For example, having a firm logistical base provides a lot of options for one in other parts of life because one has a lot of resources to work with, something of an enviable position that I am not familiar with (except with regards to my mental resources). Having a strong vision for the future (an aspect of strategy) allows one to be somewhat tactically flexible in how to achieve that vision. While some people are so flexible that they are merely opportunistic, others are flexible in achieving their goals while their endpoints remain consistent.

Flexibility also aids in not being anxious over that which is not really important to be anxious about. For example, there may be times where we simply don’t have final plans a long time before something happens because there are many ways that something can work out, and it is not worthwhile to fret endlessly over that which could work out a great many ways. Sometimes one simply needs to make one’s plans as best as possible with an admittance for uncertainty and to roll with it as best as possible. Mind you, this is a lot easier said than done, but worrying about one’s work schedule or what color luggage tags one is going to get is not really all that important in the grand scheme of things. Given all of the drastic and surprising changes my life has seen, I simply have to admit that though I will always try my best, I really cannot be sure what will happen today or tomorrow, much less years from now. It has drastically curtailed any desire to have detailed expectations and agendas to know how unstable life is in this day and age. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I do not know, but it is what it is.

As much as we would all prefer to have our wishes and wants fulfilled, and to know what good things to expect and look forward to, there are plenty of reasons why the flexible are blessed. One is that this world is full of disrputions, and we need to be able to deal with what life gives us. Coping with the challenges of life is one of the major day to day tasks we all face for our personal and emotional well-being, and part of that task of coping requires flexibility so that we avoid rigidity in thought and mindset. If we know that life is going to present challenges and difficulties that will require us to change our plans to reflect changed reality, the better and more easily we are able to do this, the less difficulty and anguish we will find for ourselves. And given the difficulties that life provides, even if we are not foolish enough to create trouble for ourselves, we need all the help we can get.