Learning NOT to Plan
That's not to say that I'm not
flexible. I think I am, but I like having a plan in place, even if I know
it's going to be deviated from. And I'm definitely uneasy when I DON'T
have a plan.
I AM A PLANNER!
So when I looked at the school
calendar and saw that my son had the last Friday and Monday of September off, I
went into planning mode. A four day weekend! I could take 2 days
off and we could do something fun as a family! Yes!
So I started researching and
planning. The planning even lead to this post.
I started to narrow things down, broached the subject with my boys and
googled! I was ready to make some reservations, when I double checked the
calendar and...
Tuesday (before the Friday I'd been
planning) I have been summoned to jury duty. Its 2 days (which would be
fine since that would mean I'd be finished by Wednesday) OR one trial.
With my luck... (I've been on cases before.) And before you recommend
that I get a postponement, I've already had one, since I was originally called
in August.
URGH!
Of course I could set something up
and risk it. (Which completely stresses me out.) I could bag the whole
idea. (Which frustrates me no end.) Or I could wing it. I
could just see how things go and if they DO go my way, we could still go away.
This last thought is the most
logical. It has also given me a tension headache. Going away
without any plan at the last minute? So NOT me. Thinking about it my shoulders
hunch, my teeth start to grind and I get completely on edge. So on edge
that I literally had to walk away from my desk, go to lunch and run some
errands just so I WOULDN'T think about it.
Of course I DID think about it, but
I managed to change my mindset. I reminded myself that one of the best
trips we ever did was not really planned. Back in 2005 we didn't know
exactly WHEN my son would be born so we had no hotel reservations. When
the call came, it was the middle of the night and we'd need a room during the
summer high season for approximately a week. We managed to pull that one
off. Why couldn't we do the same in the fall? Even if it was peak
foliage time, we WILL find something, even if it isn't "perfect."
(What is perfect anyway? When I've researched "perfect" places
to stay in the past, they've never lived up to my expectations, so why have
expectations to begin with?)
Being even MORE logical, with no
plans, if the weather is NOT good, we can do something else. With no
reservations set in stone, if a hurricane or Nor'easter sets its sights on us,
it doesn't matter. I won't have to drive during a thunderstorm or make
the best of the situation...because there is no situation! If we DON'T go
anywhere, I've lost nothing. If we DO, I've only gained!
Learning NOT to plan is NOT easy
for me. But I'm going to give it a try this September. I'm going to
do my best to "roll with the flow wherever it goes...and it's rolling out
of here." (Thank you Michael Nesmith.)
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