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I Made A Spontaneous Decision And It Was So Worth It, A Story Told By The Biggest Planner In The World

Had to dig pretty deep, but I channelled my ~risky~ side and it paid off.

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I Made A Spontaneous Decision And It Was So Worth It, A Story Told By The Biggest Planner In The World
Lauryn Smith

For those of you who know me, I am probably the most neurotic planner in the entire world.

I have to keep track of it all: From how many days I'm going out in the next week, to what I'm going to eat for dinner, to what my next workout is going to be. I'm the kind of person who plans out what classes I'm going to take the next summer before classes even start.

I'm the one who needs to know their plans for next summer before the current summer is even over.

Crazy, I know. I wouldn't say I'm in such a rush to get to the future, it's just that planning is a comfort for me. Knowing my next steps make me feel a lot more at ease and therefore allow me to look forward to what's coming next. However, this can leave me sometimes disappointed when plans don't go exactly how they intend on.

So, when I found out my brother was coming home to visit over Labor Day, I initially wrote off the idea of going home as it seemed like too much of a hassle after moving into college two weeks prior.

For context, my twin brother goes to the University of Missouri and spent the summer working at an overnight camp in order to get in-state residency. Though I had gone with him the weekend he moved in, it had been months since we had gotten to be home together.

As much as I wanted to see him and spend time with him in our hometown especially, I told myself it required too much planning and that I would get to see him over Thanksgiving.

The thought of going home crossed my mind about a week later, after learning of many girls in my sorority house who were going home over Labor Day weekend for various reasons. I called my mom up on the phone one day, letting her know that I had been stewing over the idea of surprising my brother by coming back home.

She assured me to not worry and that it was OK for me not to come home. I asked if they maybe would consider driving down to have lunch and hang out for a few hours one of the days (per the suggestion of one of my friends), and she said she'd talk to my dad and think about it. This way I'd get to enjoy the weekend at school with my friends and get to see my family.

Unfortunately, my perfect plan didn't end up going as I would've liked it to.

After asking them one more time on Thursday morning, my parents explained that getting in the car and driving down to Champaign was a bit of a hassle and that my brother would probably prefer to just stay at home and relax, and I totally understood.

I still had this an uneasy feeling in my gut. Getting to go out and eat delicious food with my friends in Chambana is quite fun, but nothing compares to quality time with family. Seeing my family (almost) all together would've not only given me FOMO, but would've made me feel like crap, and the fun nights out with my girlies could wait for another time.

I knew deep down in my heart that being with my family this weekend was the right thing to do, and I would've regretted it if I didn't at least try to see if going home was an option. So I quickly pulled some strings and by noon I had figured out a ride and I was in the car on the way back home to suburbs at 5.

This weekend was everything I had hoped it would be and more.

Getting to surprise my brother and my grandparents was so exciting and made all the quick hassle worth it. We didn't do anything too out of the ordinary, but family time is truly about enjoying the pure presence of one another.

And realizing that it really wasn't much trouble to make a relaxing, fun family weekend like this one happen made it all that more special. Happy Hour, Bangkok Thai, the new clothes I bought this summer, and my best friends will be waiting for me when I get back to school, that is for damn sure.

So what's the point of this story I made you sit and listen to me ramble on and on for? Through the unnecessary hours of stewing and pondering over something, it ended up working out so easily and perfectly.

Instead of thinking everything has a consequence, you sometimes just have to do what feels right in the moment-usually your gut ends up being right on the money.

I guess I really wasn't shocked to discover that you don't need to calculate every ounce of your life. There is definitely a time and a place for planning, but with balance.

Making decisions is something that I don't think will ever come easy to me, especially ones that are in the moment like this one was.

However, whenever I am being my crazy self, trying to plan out my life to a ridiculous extent and can't make up my mind about something as simple as what I'm going to eat for lunch, maybe I'll remind myself to just go with your gut and to let life take you where you're supposed to go... sometimes it pays off.

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