Trying to plan out every little thing that happens in your life is a struggle. Things happen that send you on a roller coaster and leave you stranded so far off the path that you can’t find your way back. Planning out your future and giving yourself times and dates as to when you’ll be where you want is even harder.
At 5 they ask you what you want to be when you’re older.
At 16 you take tests and quizzes to find out what you would be good at compared to your interests and talents.
At 18 you apply for college and are supposed to have your entire life planned out based on what you want to go to school for.
At 25 you graduate and are expected to get a job right away.
It’s all by the book.. that’s how it’s supposed to go. Married with kids before you’re 30.
I tried that. I listened to the tests and what they told me, I went to college for three years and took something that I decided would be cool to do. Nobody told me that I would graduate and have to work for free while waiting tables on the side and stocking shelves and putting away footwear to pay the bills.
I had a plan. I had a five year and a ten year plan.. but then life happened. Every single thing that I had planned for myself fell apart and crumbled at my feet. I was left to pick up the pieces and find my way back to the path i had made for myself.
Turns out everything that I had planned for myself, wasn’t for me at all. It wasn’t the right plan, it wasn’t the right path and I had gotten lost somewhere along the way… took too many wrong turns or ended up on a path that didn’t lead anywhere. I had to start over.
Starting over at 23, almost 24 years old was hard. Going back to school for something else.. another 4-5 years of school. I would graduate when everyone was settling down with families and careers. The time i spent on the wrong path wasn’t a waste. I spent so much time finding myself and learning about who I was that it helped build the path i’m on now. It helped build the path that will lead somewhere.
Planning your future and your life seems like such a great idea. You set out goals, you make plans with people. You fall in love with someone and think they’re in it for the long haul. But things change. People change, and plans fall apart. People plan out their entire lives down to every little thing and put all of their eggs into one basket that’s held together by all of these plans… but when life happens and it falls apart they’re lost. I’m not saying not to put them all into one basket.. i’m not saying to not make plans, or to let the future scare you.
Sometimes you have to put them all in one basket. You have to put everything you have into things, in order to get everything you want. It’s just a matter of being prepared for when life happens. Having a backup plan.. knowing that sometimes things happen and people change.. but just because one plan doesn’t work out for you.. that doesn’t mean a different path won’t work.
Health over Thin 