Today I was watching the latest episode of Shrinking, and Derek —of all people— quietly drops this line:
“All we can do is believe that things are gonna work out the way they’re supposed to. That’s what Everything is gonna be okay really means. “
It stopped me.
Because for the past two years, “Everything is gonna be okay” hasn’t been denial. It hasn’t been blind optimism. It hasn’t meant that flights won’t get canceled, money won’t get tight, performances won’t bomb, or plans won’t change.
It has meant trust.
Trust when I said yes to Costa Rica.
Trust when I was the third adult on a motorbike and carrying a ladder.
Trust when I travelled countries.
Trust when I bombed at magic club Christmas night.
Trust when I cancelled South Africa.
Trust when I chose gray hair.
Trust when I stood in the middle of a four-lane Vietnamese street thinking, “Well this might be how it ends.”
“Everything is gonna be okay” does not mean everything will go my way.
It means that whatever happens will shape me into who I am meant to become.
There were moments on this journey when nothing looked okay. Burnout didn’t feel okay. Bankruptcy didn’t feel okay. Loneliness didn’t feel okay. Doubt certainly didn’t feel okay.
But looking back, every single one of those moments redirected me. Strengthened me. Softened me. Forced me to listen. Forced me to grow.
Maybe everything is gonna be okay is not a prediction.
Maybe it is a posture.
A way of standing in uncertainty without collapsing.
A way of walking forward without guarantees.
A way of saying, “I don’t understand this now but I will trust it.”
When I first left home, I said it to calm my fear.
Now I say it with experience behind it.
Not because everything turns out perfectly.
But because everything turns out purposeful.
And if I keep showing up —with courage, with humour, with yes— then whatever happens next will be part of the story I am meant to live.
Everything is gonna be okay.
Not because life is easy.
But because I am learning how to trust it.
“It’ll all work out.”
—Cast Away (2000)