Burn Your Crocs

Patterns, Cycles, and the Art of Seeing What Comes Next

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Every time I think I have arrived at a new realization, I eventually recognize it for what it is.

“There is nothing new under the sun.”
Ecclesiastes

This is not a statement of defeat. It is a statement of clarity.

Human life runs on patterns. It always has, and it always will.

We like to imagine life as a straight line that moves forward in clean progression, but that has never been how it works. Life moves in cycles. It loops. It repeats. It echoes. Expansion and contraction. Attachment and loss. Confidence and doubt. Rise and fall. These rhythms show up everywhere, in relationships, in money, in power, in societies, and inside our own emotional lives.

The setting changes, but the structure stays the same.

The pyramids feel extraordinary to us because we are far removed from them. But they were not born out of randomness or mystery. They followed familiar patterns of belief, authority, labor, and legacy. What appears monumental to us was normal and expected to the people who built it.

Once you accept that nothing is new under the sun, something shifts. You stop chasing novelty and start studying patterns.

Pattern recognition is a quiet form of intelligence. It allows you to anticipate possibilities rather than react in shock. You begin to notice when something is building, when something is peaking, and when something is quietly unraveling. People who seem lucky are often just observant. They have seen this before. They recognize the rhythm. They understand where the story usually goes.

Most of what surprises us in life is not actually surprising when viewed honestly. The signs were there. The relationship that fell apart carried warnings long before the ending. The burnout did not arrive unannounced. The financial strain followed a predictable sequence. The growth came after discomfort, just like it always does.

When you zoom out, life stops looking chaotic and starts looking patterned. Different people enter the picture. Different circumstances unfold. But the emotional beats repeat. The lessons circle back until they are understood.

Using patterns does not mean you control life. It means you stop being blindsided by it.

You begin to ask different questions. Have I seen this energy before? What usually follows this phase? Is this a moment of expansion or contraction? Am I resisting a cycle that is already in motion?

Wisdom is not knowing everything. Wisdom is recognizing repetition early enough to choose differently.

Here is the paradox. Nothing is new under the sun, yet your experience of it is entirely personal. The lesson may be ancient, but the timing is yours. The awareness is yours. The response is yours.

That is where agency lives. Not in novelty, but in recognition.

There is relief in seeing life clearly. When you understand that life runs on patterns, urgency softens. Comparison loses its grip. Panic fades. You stop asking why this is happening to you and start asking what part of the cycle you are in.

Nothing new under the sun does not make life smaller. It makes it legible.

And when life becomes legible, possibility opens. Not because the future is guaranteed, but because it is familiar enough to navigate.

The sun rises.
The sun sets.
And those who learn its patterns stop fearing the dark.