Go with the flow means being relaxed and accepting a situation rather than trying to alter or control it.
While the expression “Go with the flow” is thought to have originated in the 1960s, some say that 2nd-century Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus expressed the sentiment when he wrote:
“Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by, and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away.”
A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive.
“I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived.”
When you wake up in the morning, you plan your day, and looking at your schedule, you know it’s going to be great. On your way to work, the cab you’re traveling in gets a flat tire. You’re running late, and your routine is disrupted. You get angry and frustrated. But is it your fault that the cab had a flat tire? No, it’s not. You cannot control that, but what you can control is your emotions—the way you react in any given situation. By doing so, you can still have a wonderful day as planned. You need to go with the flow.
No matter how much we design our lives and organize things to make our daily activities easier and smoother, there will always be a few things we cannot control. If we let those things seep into us, they will only bring stress, frustration, and anger. We need to realize that we cannot control everything, and we cannot control others either.
A one-stop solution to that would be: go with the flow.
“Go with the flow. Force nothing. Let it happen… trusting that whichever way it goes, it’s for the best.” — Mandy Hale.
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