Well, what an amazing weekend I had! The Rents came to visit and we had a pretty good chat about my future.
Future is a weird word – to me, it's like a big rush to get somewhere more important than where you are now. It's like saying, when I get here I will be happy. But does this stop you enjoying the right now?
I've never been much of a 5-year plan kinda girl, more like a 2-week plan kinda girl – although those 2 weeks of my diary are always full. There are too many factors and people who get in the way if you plan long term, I find. You can forget that the people in your plan have plans too, and aren't just your puppets.
Sure, I have a vague plan in my head. A vague idea of what I'd like to achieve in my life, but if it happens in the wrong order, I don't really mind. And if some things don't happen at all, like winning the lottery, then is that really the end of the world?
It's hard to resist this planning mentality, though. Magazines tell you where you should be in your relationships, in your health, finances etc, but they haven't personally interviewed you, so how can they really know?!
Whenever I get swept up in it all and think, right, I'm going to settle down THEN, commit to something THEN, build a complete life in London THEN, something jolts me back to reality and reminds me what I will miss out on if I strive for these bizarre and quite often unattainable markers in my life.
Recently, I was so swept up in making plans, that I totally missed an opportunity to go down a path I've wanted to go down for ages. It was scary! It brought me to my senses. Luckily, with a little help from a lot of people, I joined the path a little further down the track. And now I'm on it, it just feels right, in spite of the fact I've got to do a bit of planning.
So, I've come up with a compromise. Instead of a 5-year plan kinda girl or the 2-week plan kinda girl I was before, I'm going to be a 5-week plan kinda girl.
That really does sound like a plan to me!
1 comment:
Your post made me smile. I think planning and goals look quite different when viewed from the perspective of 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, etc... You are right about enjoying the here and now. That's true wisdom. On the other hand, to achieve a particular goal may take many years so it can be wise to make an early start. Listen to your parents, DG. They have your best interests at heart.
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