What’s Meant For You Will Never Miss You
When my best friend reminded me of the power of remembering a beautiful quote
Netherlands, November 2024
“Just bought a train ticket to Den Haag. See you soon”, I texted my best friend via i message while I was standing inside the Utrecht Central Station.
People say the main privilege that every diplomat has is holding a diplomatic passport.
While this, needless to say, is true. In my view, visiting a foreign country where your best friend is posted is the main privilege that every diplomat should be grateful for.
That best friend can give you such a valuable traveling experience: Lessons learned from their posting life in person.
One thing that Google and tour guides can never, ever, provide.
I arrived at Den Haag during the dinnertime.
It’s been more than two years since we last spoke in person. I was so excited to have this opportunity: to sit down with my best friend for hours.
We talked. A lot. About anything. About life.
We shared a laughter.
We shared our posting journeys.
My story, how I ended up in Zagreb.
Her story, how she ended up in Den Haag.
We agreed that how life, sometimes, could be so funny.
We chased, prayed, and dreamed about something we wanted in life. But they’ve never come to us.
Many times, we never chased the things (bad and good) in our life. Never asked God to grant those things. But, as it turned out, they came to our life. They’re given to us.
And she said,
Don’t you agree, der? It’s true what Ali bin Abi Thalib has said:
What’s Meant for You Will Never Miss You
After returning to Zagreb, whenever I had a moment alone, the memories of sitting down with my best friend, when she said that quote, was still visible in my imagination.
Especially, after I lost my phone in a taxi cab one week ago.
Soon after I realized that I lost my phone, I was annoyed. A bit anxious. Whenever I re-checked my jacket and trouser pocket many times, the discomfort feeling came up.
But remembering Ali’s quote helped me to stay calm. Present. Not reactive.
I repeatedly said to myself that:
If it’s meant to be lost, it will be
I felt like remembering that quote helped me tame that feeling of discomfort.
Once the taxi company advised me to consider that my phone was lost, 4 days after the incident, I reflected upon what happened in the those four days.
I felt less anxious. I didn’t waste most of my time trying to blame myself or the taxi company. I could make a joke to every friend’s message that texted me as sympathy for that phone loss.
I was better at handling my loss this time than before.
Making Beautiful Quote Works For Your Life
Before my best friend hit me with what she said, I had been using beautiful quotes in my life.
Because,
Beautiful quote works. For me.
It strengthens my belief. It gives me a new perspective.
It makes me relax. It makes me worry less.
The way I make quotes work to me is by incorporating pondering activities as part of my daily routine.
After reading one of Ryan Holiday’s excellent books, Stillness is the Key, I was inspired to make walking part of my routine. I now walk. About 1–2 km, at least. Once a day. In stillness moment.
Without podcast. No music. No notification.
Just me. And my surroundings.
I ponder some quotes that resonate with my life purpose or current problem.
Recently, I’ve been pondering Imam Al-Ghazali’s quote, which is similar to this article’s title:
What is meant for you, will reach you even if it is beneath two mountains. And what is not meant for you will not reach you even if it’s between your two lips.
Not only did this kind of quote-pondering-activity help me deal with my problem better, but it has also prepared me to not sweat the small stuff in life.
You know, the small things that irritated you often, like:
The moment when you’re in a rush but you forgot your house key.
The moment when you’re stomach hurts, all of a sudden, when the big event is just a few minutes in front of you.
When these things happened, it didn’t trigger me — like it used to be. My feeling of discomfort was not intense.
I could easily relax. Focused on finding a solution.
I thank you, next.
Bruce Lee once said:
I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times
He was saying to us that it would be better if we mastered only one thing in life than to try to do many things.
When it comes to remembering a beautiful quote, all of us should pick one favorite quote.
The one that really resonates with us. Which can become a reminder to us.
I pick Imam Ghazali’s quote. Ryan Holiday picks Marcus Aurelius quote: The Obstacle is the Way. He even tattooed it on one of his arms.
A beautiful quote, for sure, doesn’t change circumstances. Nor would it bring back something/someone that was lost from our life.
But, it can be used to train our minds. And our character — subconsciously.
It can be used as a tool when discomfort comes up. So, we can feel the emotion without irritating ourselves. Let alone swearing to ourselves.
A beautiful quote can be our armor.
So, when bad things happen, we can handle it better.
Derian Antonio Daniswara is an Indonesian junior diplomat currently posted in Zagreb, Croatia. He loves sports, especially football, and playing them is his second nature.
Every view and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s views and do not reflect the positions of any entities he represents.
