Note to Self:
Make goals. Not plans.
Maybe goals and plans seem like the same thing to you . . . but to me they're different.
I'm a planner by nature. I have one year plans, ten year plans, plans for how I'm going to get my homework done in time, plans for finally talking to that one guy, plans for driving to school or work each day. I plan. And you know something? Funny enough, my plans RARELY go as planned.
Turns out a teacher gave us an extra assignment and now my whole schedule is off. That guy I was going to talk to after school? Yeah, he wasn't where I planned he would be. The road I take to get to school or work? Construction; miles and miles of construction. And in an instant, there go all my plans.
Now those are small plans. Plans that I can rearrange quickly in my head and sooner or later I'll reach the finish. But there are other plans life plans that aren't so easily rewritten.
I had my whole life planned out and not just one plan either. I planned for so many different situations I really can't recall them all. But my biggest plan was this:
Graduate high school on June 6th, 2013. Start college at Weber State University (where I was just accepted) in August of 2013. I would attend there until I got my bachelors degree (I'm still deciding between majors however). While there, I would find a guy and fall in love. We'd get married and start a family and we'd live happily ever after, right? Now of course, in between all of that, I'd planned much more in depth, but you get the point.
Wouldn't that be nice? If we could plan our lives and just like that, they would happen? It doesn't work like that, though. Whether you believe in a God or in destiny or anything else . . . chances are that your life is going to take a whole lot of turns you never expected. So many opportunities and situations you never imagined can come up. You can plan your life away, but in the meantime life is going on all around you.
This past weekend was the LDS General Conference and I'm sure most of you who are reading this know that I'm a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but for those of you who don't . . . now you do. And, as I'm sure everyone knows by now, President Monson gave a remarkable announcement Saturday morning. As of Saturday, October 6th, young men may now serve missions at age 18 and young women may now serve at age 19 (this is a big change from the previous ages of 19 and 21 respectively).
Since I was about 12 years old I've danced around the idea of serving a mission. I've never been sure of what I would do, but as I've grown up a bit I came to the realization that a mission just might not be in the cards for me. By age 21 I would have most likely received my bachelors degree (with previous credits earned and attending school for summer semesters as well), not to mention the fact that I may be well on my way to getting married or at least finding someone to marry. I would have been well into my life by the time I turned 21. I wanted to serve a mission, but where it wasn't required, I wanted a career and a family more. Or so I thought. I had planned out my whole life, remember? And I just didn't see a mission fitting in there.
As this change of age was announced on Saturday, however, everything changed. I could go on a mission at age 19. This is a possibility that was never an option before. As the words were spoken my heart raced and tears came to my eyes at just the thought. Posts flooded Facebook, with all of these girls saying how they couldn't wait to go on missions and it was all a bit overwhelming to be honest. This is an amazing opportunity and, for girls, this change could mean the difference between going or not going.
In the past three days I've had more people ask me if I'm going on a mission than I can count. And my answer is maybe. Maybe, because I just don't know. It was something that I wanted for so long but I had put it out of my mind. And now it's something that I have to think about. I almost wish I was one of the girls who heard that announcement and immediately knew they were going, but I'm just not. I'm not impulsive . . . at all. I have to think about things for days and months and longer even, before I can think about making a decision. That's why I plan: so I don't have to make decisions quickly. (Though that never works out . . . you'd think I'd learn by now.) And this, even though the opportunity is much different and much more at hand, still doesn't fit into what I had "planned" for my life. It's just a lot to think about.
Anyway I kind of went off on a tangent there. My point is that plans don't always work out. Sometimes there are options and things thrown into the mix that change everything as I've learned over the past couple of days. So maybe it's better not to plan. Maybe it's better to simply make goals.
Goal:
Wake up in the morning.
Goal:
Get to work and school... somehow.
Goal:
Graduate High School.
Goal:
Attend and Graduate College.
Goal:
Get married.
Goal:
Start a family.
Goal:
Go on a mission?
Goal:
. . .
Be happy.
Maybe goals and plans seem like the same thing to you . . . but to me they're different. Goals are something that I have to look forward to. Things that I can work towards. Goals can change easily. As I grow up and things change my goals can change with me. I don't have to think of every little detail of a goal and design just how I'll execute it . . . I just have to work towards the end product. And if something comes up, then it comes up. I don't have to change a thing. I just keep working towards my goal.
For a goal there there doen'st have to be a timeline or a deadline . . . just a finish line.
So I'm done making plans. I know that I'm not alone in anything I do and I have faith that my goals will get me where I need to be :)
