Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Shooting a Curve #1

A reflection on how ‘shooting a curve’ is less about seeking clarity and more about avoiding alignment with established structure in favor of personal preference.

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Searching for another route can become a way of avoiding what has already been made clear.

I am beginning to notice that when I “shoot a curve,” I am often not really seeking clarity—I am seeking a different outcome. Even when an answer has already been established, I may try to go around it rather than work within it.

What is becoming clearer to me is that this is less about information and more about preference. Rather than adjusting myself to what is already there, I begin looking for a version of reality that better matches what I want.

Looking back, I often framed this as getting another opinion or examining options, without fully recognizing that I was avoiding something I did not want to accept. Recovery is teaching me that such structure exists for a reason. It creates consistency, clearness and accountability. When I go around it, I do not just change the answer, I weaken the structure that aids in keeping things aligned.

This also connects directly to “keep it simple,” because shooting a curve adds unnecessary complexity instead of working with what has already been made clear. It also connects to purpose, because when I follow my preferences instead of structure, I begin to drift away from direction.

For me, shooting a curve is less about who I go to and more about whether I am willing to align myself with what has already been established. Today, I am trying to work more directly within structure instead of avoiding it.