When I was in middle school and high school I thought I would be married by 25 and having children immediately. Husband, 2.5 kids, house with a wrap around porch, 2 car garage, a dog and be on the PTA. I saw myself baking cookies for my kids, picking flowers out of my garden and having dinner ready every night by 6pm. But then life happened. I met a world outside of my own and things shifted. I remember when I first started traveling and saying to myself, "this is the freedom I want." There was a switch in my thinking and thank goodness I left room for that switch to happen. Thank goodness I hadn't jumped the broom with....... that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I started telling myself that maybe this year 25 plan isn't truly what I want. Maybe the idea I had for the perfect life doesn't fit perfectly anymore. Now at 36 I look back and thank God that the idea I had for my life didn't happen and that I left space for me to explore the unexpected and the unplanned.
I remember when I moved to Boston to work with my Uncle's church. My plan was to be there for 6 months and I ended up being there 5 years! After year 4, I planned to be rooted there and then suddenly my roots were snatched. I had a plan and that plan fell through, twice, but I learned through all my previous experiences that change is constant and change is good. Change won't destroy me. Change teaches me more about myself than comfort ever will.
I tell everyone dealing with life expectations to make sure you have a plan for your life but leave room for adjustments. Everything does not go as planned, trust me. You can plan things down to the minute and still in a second they can maneuver. And guess what, that is okay! It's okay for things to go left when you wanted them to go right. It prepares you to not lose your shit when the unexpected happens. It prepares you to accept that in the midst of transitions life goes on and you will go on too.
So to that little girl who has everything thought out, make sure you leave some room for the random; random ideas, random mishaps, random people, random texts (hey big head, LOL), & random adventures. Because usually the random adventures are the stories we love to tell.
#dearplanners throw the whole agenda away