Sometimes Things Don’t go as Planned
“The only constant in life is change.” -Heraclitus
Sometimes things don’t go as planned. We all know this, but I think when our plans get ruined or changed we often forget that it's normal and let it become a huge inconvenience. I’m not talking about the dinner plans that fell through that one time. No…I am talking about the plans you have for your life. If there is anything I have learned in the last year of my life, it's that it is NEVER planned no matter how hard you try. Not only have I seen this in my personal life, but in those around me as well. What’s crazy to me is how we all still don’t know how to deal with that. How to deal with the way plans falling through makes us feel. It's not a good feeling whatsoever, but what makes those inconveniences worth it? The things we couldn’t have ever imagined waiting on the other side.
I have almost re-trained my brain this year because I used to be so upset by any minor inconvenience to my “big life plans.” But the fact of the matter is that we change more than anything that changes to us. Sometimes we can feel that we need to make an adjustment in our lives and there is nothing we can do to make the anxiety or overthinking go away, other than to actually embrace the change that is inevitably going to happen. Even if it's not what you had planned.
We have to give up the control we feel we need to have.
This one is quite a doozy for sure. Yes, you have control of your life and what you do each day. However, when you submit to the fact that things don’t always go t as planned, you can teach yourself to control how you respond to those things, instead of letting a change in plans ruin you. By doing this, you can still have a sense of control, but not be so blindsided and ruined by the new change in your life. By no means is this an easy switch to flip in our brains however, it makes a huge difference in the way we view any “inconvenience” in our lives.
I am strong in my faith, and so I personally believe that we aren’t supposed to have plans. We weren’t made to go through life with plans. The path is supposed to be given to us, and yes, that can be hard to wrap your head around. To be perfectly honest, I never truly believed in that up until recently, but it makes life so much less stressful. How? Because there is a weight lifted off your shoulders about knowing exactly what you have to do and how you’re going to do it.
Change is okay.
In fact, change is great if you look at it from the right perspective. Yes, it's painful. It's sad. It’s not always a fun time, but it’s amazing to watch what happens when we make one difference in our lives.
One of my biggest takeaways about this topic is one I learned from a friend of mine (shoutout to you miss Bella Bishop) who says that “why do we think death only happens once, when we feel reborn so many times?” Meaning, we grow and change and old versions of us “die.” I think I have really felt that in the last year and even though changes happened and they were not always great, I am extremely grateful for what it has brought me and the way it has taught me that it’s okay that sometimes things don’t go as planned.
Edited by Bella Bishop & Carly Herbert
