When a Boat Reaches a Bridge (Chinese Proverb)

Background Info/Context:

My friend was laying in bed while browsing through her phone, listening to me pace across my room after not hearing back from an internship I applied to multiple weeks ago. She told me that I did my part, and all I had to do now was wait, and trust that if the company finds me to be a good fit for their internship role, they would reach out. She tried calming me down with a proverb that her dad used to tell her to go with the flow and help her trust the system.

 

Piece:

“When a boat reaches a bridge near a river… it naturally, like, bends the… right way, so it doesn’t crash. Meaning that if the boats at a slight angle, and it’s about to crash, you just have to have faith that it will correct itself and like not crash into the bridge and just like keep going smoothly.”

 

Thoughts:

The proverb my friend shared definitely gave me perspective on what I should and shouldn’t stress about. After something been all said and done, the best thing you can do is trust that you worked hard enough to not “crash” or fail. Although this proverb was used in the context of career, it could easily be applied to many other situations. If someone is stressing out because of an argument they had with a friend, feeling anxious about being a first time parent, or even worried that their pet might not recover from a surgery, the proverb is focusing on fate, and that things that are meant to be, are going to be happen regardless of worrying or panicking.