Everyone has plans for everything. We have plans for what we are going to do in the next 10 minutes, the next two days, the next 30 years. All these plans contribute to an ultimate goal. But what if those plans don’t work out. What do we do then? This isn’t supposed to sound bleak or depressing—it is an honest question. What do we do?
When I was 7 years old, I planned on becoming a ballerina. When I was 11, I planned on becoming an actress. In high school, I decided to go a little more practical chose the medical route. Now I have two years of college under my belt with a major that is nowhere near the same as the major that I started with. It is excruciatingly hard and quite near impossible to know exactly what you want to do with the rest of your life at 20 years old. I may be sure of what I want to do right now, but for all I know I could change my major three more times before I graduate. My point is that plans always fall apart, especially the big ones. It is nobody’s fault, except maybe the universe. The only thing you can do is adapt to the situation, evolve your way of thinking and trust that for whatever reason, it’s going to be okay.
There is a concept in one of my favorite movies, "Stuck in Love" that gives the perfect explanation to the socially driven and I-want-it-now mindset that is the human condition. It explains that we are all guilty of living life in fast forward, constantly waiting for whatever comes next. The present is boring to us because it is known. The mystery of the future entices and scares us at the same time. It is the reason why we make plans. Plans give us the illusion of control, and, as humans, we like being in control. It makes the unknown less scary and more exciting.
To answer the question of what we are supposed to do if our plans don’t work out: you’ll know when you get there. It may not happen right away. You may feel lost at first, and you may feel like you have to give it all up. But in the end, you’ll know what to do and everything will work out. Even if where you end up is nowhere near where you thought you were going, you’ll find yourself just as happy. My best advice would be to not have an actual plan, but to have a general idea of where you want to go. It’s all about the big picture. The small details can be worked out in the process. The truth is, you can plan which route you want to take, but on the road towards the future, there will be some flat tires, forks in the road and inconvenient detours. Plans inherently never work out, so try not to stress when they stay true to character. There are some things that can be controlled and some things that simply cannot. What we do when life puts a brick wall in front of us is what really defines us. But that is a whole other conversation for another day.
