“Life can only be understood backwards, but we have to live it forwards.”

My understanding

Looking back, everything makes sense. The mistakes, the detours, the moments that felt like failures. They all fit together like pieces of a puzzle I could not see at the time. In hindsight, I can understand why things happened the way they did.

But life does not give me that clarity in the moment. I have to live it forward, making choices without knowing how they will turn out. I have to trust that the meaning will come later, that what feels uncertain today will make sense when I look back.

Steve Jobs put it best when he said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards." His words remind me that while I may not always see how things fit together right now, they will make sense in the future. Trusting the process, even when it feels uncertain, is the only way forward.

This quote encourages me to let go of the need to have everything figured out right now. Some answers only reveal themselves with time. And until then, the best I can do is keep moving, even when the path is unclear.

Movie

Memoir of a Snail

Reminds me

1. “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because, believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart; even when it leads you off the well-worn path.” from Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address speech.