Calendars, planners, alerts, reminders – such things are useless to a person like me. While I always make sure to remember important dates, I’ve never been one to really plan things.
Of course, I have a general sense of what I want to do with my life, but unlike some people I have no idea of the exact specifics of where I want to live or work or retire. Some people know that they want to graduate college and go to this graduate school and then work for that hospital/firm/company for X many years and then marry him/her and move to X state and have however many kids. That’s just not how my mind works. Every time I try to think like that I always end up even more confused; I get frustrated and usually pretty anxious and panicked.
Honestly, I don’t think we’re really meant to have it all figured out. We don’t need a clear-cut path to the rest of our lives. That’s not how it’s meant to be, either. Trying to figure out the next twenty years of my life would be like trying to draw a map to an unknown destination and then follow it. It doesn’t make sense. We have no sure-fire way to know where we are going to be in the next five years, let alone if we even make it past tomorrow. There is no machine or person that can tell us our definite future here on earth, and honestly, I don’t know why anyone would want to know that information anyway.
There’s a certain ambiguity to life – a sense of mystery – that keeps life interesting. Some people might find that terrifying, but it is quite the contrary for me. In my experience, the uncertainty of the future brings my mind peace. It assures me that whatever path I’m traveling on is the one that will take me to the future I am destined to fulfill. There is no stress about making the right or wrong decision because it’s all part of a plan bigger than any of us can even imagine.
That’s not to say we shouldn’t carefully consider the big decisions in our life or constantly make foolish choices because we will still suffer the consequences of our actions – good or bad. But this philosophy should actually make it easier to make decisions. By taking the pressure of a “perfect” life off your shoulders, you are free to make decisions that are influenced by what you want now not based off of how your life will be in twenty years.
It’s good to have a game plan but don’t let that plan dictate every move, decision, and action you make. Things happen – mistakes, hindrances, doubt – and you have to make sure that in the midst of all your planning, you leave room for those things. They may not change your plans at all, but there’s the slim chance that one little thing can spark a new desire or passion or idea inside of you, and all your plans can shift in an instant.
