“You were exactly where you were supposed to be.”

This is what Bran The Broken says to Jon Snow in the last episode of the Game of Thrones series. Jon is apologising for not being there when Bran needed him the most.

Yes! Of all Game of Thrones trivia, this is perhaps the most insightful, memorable and knowing quote for me. Really!??! Stick with me on this for a couple more minutes.

Why? Because as humans, we spend a good portion of our lives wishing, thinking, dreaming and fantasising of being somewhere else. Now I don’t mean in terms of working and hoping for a brighter future, however we define this.

But for many of us, our lives are a series of “what-ifs”.

What if I had taken Door Number 2 instead of Door Number 1? What if I had taken that job instead of this one? If only I had asked him out back then? If I had spoken out earlier, this may not have happened? What if?

Most of us

We rehash every decision we make and often believe we chose wrong. Our lives could be so much better had we picked otherwise. We are so sure of this because this other reality in our mind just feels so much better than where we are right now.

But remember, we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Our journey is unknown and unknowable (thank you CrossFit Inc for that slogan) and many times nonsensical. It is unique to us. And we are exactly where we are supposed to be. This has nothing to do with fate, faith, serendipity, astrology, futility or anything else you may believe in – although feel free to overlay this.

And when we recognise that we are exactly where we are supposed to be, we owe it to ourselves to

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Attributed to Theodore Roosevelt

Let’s remove “what-ifs” from our lives. Let’s embrace where we are right now and really live this reality. Connect with others, take notice, be active, learn, give, take chances, exhilarate yourself, grow. Do more, suck less.

We are exactly where we are supposed to be, let it be.