Terrible things happen all of the time, and they can happen in a second. The best thing is to be prepared to react. If you try to control every little thing, you're going to end up miserable - and you're going to fail.
Interpretation
Preparation is key to handling life's unpredictability without becoming overwhelmed.
In this quote, Jason Isbell emphasizes the inevitability of terrible events in life and the importance of being prepared to respond to them instead of attempting to control every aspect. He suggests that a constant need for control can lead to misery and failure, advocating for a mindset that allows for flexibility and resilience in the face of adversity.
In practice
During a motivational speech on resilience after life's setbacks.
If you're the person whose problems were solved when you were born, your job is to try and help the people who aren't in that situation. It's very easy to say you're tired of political discussion when all of your problems are solved. I keep trying to think of it that way.
I spend a lot of time wondering how to best support the people that I love, because I think sometimes that means getting out of the way. When should I leave them alone to have their own life?
I try to read a lot and listen to a lot of good songwriters, and I try to actually work on the craft of writing a song rather than just leaving it up to inspiration.
I feel like for me to write songs that I would be interested in as a listener, there has to be tension, and there has to be some kind of push and pull between reality and the potential of disaster.
A lot of people in Nashville think that the best song is the catchiest or the one that sells the most copies. They're editing songs in a way that make them seem more consumable, I guess. I'm trying to edit them in a way that makes them more honest.
My wife is so very important to me that it's made my mom more important to me. It's made every woman I know more important to me.
You only go around once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough.
The less self-conscious you are about what you are about, the better in a way, that is to say technically. You have to get it in your blood, not in the head.
The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence. No, not at all. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.
The greatest weapon we have to combat stress is the ability to choose our thoughts.
A good martial artist does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract; and when he contracts, I expand. And when there is an opportunity, "I" do not hit, "it" hits all by itself.
Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant.
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