Even for a person like me, someone who is regimented and naturally inclined to plan, I have learned to first deal with chaos, and over time, I have even begun to appreciate the value of a little chaos.
I think what changed me most was my last few years of cycle touring along the coast of India. These were solo trips, carefully planned, and each journey lasted anywhere from a few weeks to two months. The planned roads grounded me. They gave me direction, structure, and the ability to keep to a schedule. But it was the chaos that created the opportunities for the most valuable experiences.
Honestly, I do not even know where to begin. But looking back, there are a numerous moments I would not have missed for the world.
A road closure in Tamil Nadu once forced me to take a deviation that added more than ten kilometres of riding that day. At the time, it felt like an inconvenience. But that detour took me through coastal villages I would never have seen. I passed children who waved as I rode by and directed me to a beautiful lighthouse that was unmarked on the map. I stopped to ask strangers for directions. I drank a hot cup of tea in a stranger’s house. On that rainy day, I fell off my bicycle into a pothole that turned out to be deeper than a crater. I had passers-by help me lift that loaded bicycle. I took refuge in a temple. I rode adjacent to a magnificent secluded beach. I received thumbs-ups and waves from passers-by who stopped to ask where I was from and where I was going. I was offered food, although I had to decline, since I had a ways to go.
All of these became invaluable experiences. I would have missed every one of them if I had stayed on a straight, even highway, with speeding cars, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles, and trucks whizzing past me.
Over time, I have come to see that a little chaos in other aspects of life, whether in finance, health, travel, or personal choices, can also become something to learn from. It can teach us to step away from fixed ways of thinking and living. Some of those moments seemed disastrous at the time, but when I look back now, they were not disasters at all. They were pauses. They were interruptions that forced me to reassess my goals, my priorities, and the direction of my life.
I have learned to move forward without too many expectations. Perhaps the only thing one can truly expect is the unexpected. None of this means that life should not be planned. Planning matters. Discipline matters. Structure matters. But a little chaos can open doors that a perfectly planned life may never reveal.
That, perhaps, is life: plan carefully, ride (live) openly, and leave enough space for the road (the future) to surprise you.
It's never too late 
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