Live the Adventure

I like to wake up everyday and know exactly what I'm doing, with whom, and at what time. To-Do Lists and written out goals prevent my blood pressure from rising, and having an organized schedule each day keeps me calm. You know what that makes for? A boring day. This summer I found that the best days are those with surprise introductions, casual run-ins and unexpected fun. I'm a planner to my core, but if you read my previous blog post, Serendipitous Spontaneity, then you know I'm trying to chill out. I am a creature of habit, that I am certain, but there's something refreshing about the unexpected, the changes in plans, and the adventure of a new day. As I said before, it's been truly serendipitous letting go of the reins and living the adventure. 

However, plans are not exclusive to the short term. As a 20-something recent college grad there's an inherent stress that sets in. What am I going to do now? 5 years from now? 10 years from now? If you fall into the same category, you know that unsettling anxiety that pops up every time someone asks, "So what are you plans for the future?", "What's next?", or, my personal favorite, "What's your life plan?" Newsflash: I no longer keep a Life Plan. I've had about 30, and each dissolved long ago for something better to take place. 

During our 9-hour roadtrip to NYC, a podcast about life plans played. The narrator highlighted the fact that most people aren't on Life Plan A anymore. Plan B is gone, too. Most people are living Plan F or later. And that's okay. Sometimes we get so caught up in forcing Plan A to work, that we lose sight of the amazing path that may lead elsewhere. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to be a passive participant in my life, just letting things fall by the wayside in hopes that it all brings itself together someday. That's no good. But what I will do is follow wherever the path may lead, even if that means taking a route I didn't even know existed. My life is so different today from when the year began, and as a result I am more content and joyful than ever. Everything has fallen into place in its own perfect time, better than I could have ever laid out myself. I can only imagine (but I won't try to plan!) where I'll be in two years. 

Each time my intricately detailed plans derail or awry, I will refuse to see it as a failure. Instead, I know it's my life autocorrecting and God telling me "I have something better in store."  This new attitude has enabled me to become more flexible and more open to the adventure of each day, and to the rest of my life, whatever it may bring. I like waking up and wondering what today has in store. Why? Because whether I attempt to plan every minute of the day, I'm going to end up at Plan F anyway. I might as well lose the stress, be open to opportunity, and enjoy the ride. 

Serendipitous Spontaneity

It's true. I know that I'm a planner and I like to be in control. I let my inner coil tightly wind itself til the tension is too much to stand. I find an inner calm in a good outline. I know these things about myself. If we talk frequently, and I guess even if we don't, you might know that I'm in a stage of life in flux. I'm straddling the border of "who I was" and "who I want to be." And right in there is a little sweet spot, one I've just discovered called "who I am." This is a new place for me settle in, and I'm liking what I've found thus far.

In recent months I've decided to live a little. To meet new people and go new places. Try new things I just wouldn't have entertained before. It's been great, but I still have plenty of room for growth. Thankfully, I'm surrounded by quality friends who are much more spontaneous than I, and are willing to show me the ropes to living a life with more adventure. Late night movies, popcorn, scrambled eggs and lack of sleep characterized the beginnings of my efforts at transformation, and I'm thankful for the slight shoves outside my comfort zone. Not every decision I've made on the fly has been my best or brightest, and I've tripped and scraped my knees a couple times for sure. But there's a beauty in that. I've learned a lot from those moments, finding key pieces of myself I wouldn't have otherwise discovered without those mini mishaps. 

This weekend I took my personal task to a new level. I ventured to a new city with an old pal and a new friend with not an item on the agenda. I would be lying if I said that in the days leading up to my little escapade I didn't have an inner struggle letting go of the reins, and walking out without a concrete plan. If I really want to spark a change, I need to not only counteract my feelings of uptightness and anxiety, I need to squash them. It was time to be a guinea pig and take a leap of faith. My own personal experiment was to enjoy the weekend with full willingness to accept wherever the road may take us. I was not going to pick an activity, location, or destination. I would become a "yes" woman. Want to get lunch here? Sure. Lets go look at this gallery. Okay. Want to check this out tonight? Sounds great.

And you wouldn't believe it. I had a great time. I may have come off as lazy, (if so, I'm sorry!) not offering suggestions or making many decisions, but I had accepted my challenge. It was serendipitous, living in the moment. Enjoying myself right now, in this place, with this person because there's no master plan. We don't have to be anywhere by any time. It's liberating and fulfilling because as a friend once said to me "just do what feels right." So I did, and I'm determined to do more of it. The days and nights where the unexpected happened, where you let your guard down and decide to have a little fun, and you choose to pay attention to your emotion, to just do what feels right and to be driven by what you want right then, those are the vivid memories and life-changing experiences that you deny yourself when too concerned with control.

Tomorrow I'm journeying home to the Buckeye State, planning a month of adventures for my last few weeks of complete freedom with friends, new and old. I'll soon be off to NYC and Chicago, and am bursting with excitement for the surprises that await us. And you know what the first item of that agenda is? To be spontaneous. Now that's a plan I think I can stick to.