September 28, 2025
“Relax. Nothing is under control.” — Adi Da
At first glance, this feels like a recipe for panic. If nothing is under control, then what’s the point? How do I plan my day, raise my kids, or even keep the trash from overflowing if the universe is basically chaos in a hoodie?
But the more I sit with this, the more freeing it becomes.
The Myth of Control
Most of us live like we’re one well-crafted to-do list away from mastering life. I know I do. If I just check off the laundry, get the blog post published, and somehow keep my three kids alive and fed, then, finally, I’ll feel in control. Except life doesn’t work like that. The moment I think I’ve got a handle on things, my six-year-old decides to ask why cats stare at walls, my three-year-old spills juice across the counter, and my 20-month-old lets me know loudly that naps are for suckers.
Control? Please. I can’t even control my coffee staying hot.
What Adi Da’s thought suggests is that control was never really ours to begin with. And that’s not a disaster, it’s an invitation to stop fighting battles we were never meant to win.
Relaxation in the Chaos
Relaxing doesn’t mean ignoring responsibilities or shrugging off the stuff that matters. It means loosening your white-knuckle grip on the illusion of control.
Think of it like driving in the rain. You can steer, adjust, and pay attention, but you can’t control when the car in front of you slams the brakes or when the sky opens up with a downpour. You can only respond, not dictate.
Life works the same way. We respond. We adapt. We laugh at the absurdity when the cat pukes right next to the shoe rack. Relaxing doesn’t fix the chaos—it just helps us survive it without collapsing.
What We Gain When We Let Go
When we relax, we trade panic for perspective. Instead of raging that life isn’t under our control, we start to notice the small joys:
- The kid belly-laughing at the spilled juice.
- The rare quiet moment when everyone’s asleep at the same time.
- The blog comment from someone who felt less alone after reading a post.
I’ve written before about why there’s really no such thing as bad news. The “bad” part often comes from our resistance, the belief that life should have gone differently. When we let go, what once felt unbearable sometimes becomes just another thread in the larger fabric of our story.
The Hardest Part
Relaxing is simple, but it isn’t easy. Everything in me wants to plan, control, and dictate outcomes. But the moments I’ve felt most at peace were never the ones where I had life under control. They were the ones where I gave up pretending.
So maybe the most radical thing you can do today is take a deep breath and remember: nothing is under control, and that’s okay. You don’t need control to live meaningfully. You just need to show up.
🧠 Read the full blog post where I explore this Thought of the Day and the Question of the Day
✨ Browse the full Thought of the Day archive here →
✉️ Receive These Thoughts Daily
Start each day with a moment of meaning.
Sign up for the daily email.
💬 Share Your Interpretation
How does this thought hit you today?
Feel free to share it or just carry it quietly through your day.
Leave a Reply