Digital Byte 54: Preparing for the unexpected.
April 29th, 2025
Yesterday didn’t go how I expected.
Around midday, Spain and Portugal were thrown into a massive blackout. Airports shut down. Trains froze mid-route. Cell towers went silent. No warning. No time to prepare. Everything just... stopped.
Most of my friends and my entire team are based here in Madrid, and I didn’t hear from them most of the day.
No texts. No calls. No updates.
The silence made the chaos feel even heavier.
Imagine, one moment you’re rushing to a meeting, and the next you’re stranded on the metro, stuck underground with no way to know what’s happening.
It made me realize something important.
We move through life expecting things to work.
Expecting that the Wi-Fi will stay up. That the train will arrive. For your plan to unfold exactly the way you mapped it out.
We prepare. We build backups. We double-check every detail.
And still, sometimes, life just throws chaos our way.
The truth is, no matter how much you prepare, you can't prevent the unexpected. You can only control how you move through it.
Yesterday reminded me:
✔️ Preparation helps, but it isn’t a guarantee
✔️ Flexibility matters more than rigid plans
✔️ A strong foundation is what carries you when everything else shakes
At the end of the day, success isn’t about avoiding chaos. It’s about finding your footing when chaos hits.
You are probably more ready than you think.
Stay steady,
Sydney Addis
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