Most life changing moments that have occurred in my life were mainly in accordance with how they were planned and some unplanned. The outcome was always in conformance to the logistics though not always. From mapping out what University to attend and figuring what course to read and how best to succeed at it, to deciding and following through what career path to head to and other shades of personal endeavors and accomplishments. After all it is my life right?
Recently, I planned and went on a trip abroad for holiday and other pursuits. In-between holidaying, I had planned out lots of activities I promised “myself” I must tend to. I had the resources to (time, money and energy you name it) right?. One of the things I had planned to achieve was visit good old friends, lots of entertaining and adventurous places and maybe apply to overseas jobs while at it.
First of all, majority of these planned activities are not usually things I enjoy doing but I figured “getting a breather” from my home country with the stress it comes with wouldn’t hurt.
And it didn’t but
I’m at the penultimate week before I wave good bye and head back to my home country after having spent 2 months and counting here and I would categorically rate the accomplishments of my planned goals a 5/10. That’s commendable probably because “half is better than none” but I’m a little disappointed.
Why?
Because it could be more. There were no tangible reasons why I couldn’t have made it an 8/10 or even 9/10 if blind spots or other unplanned event occurrences did not rear up its “ugly” head or (so I thought) and disorganize everything. Chum time I planned with friends were left unmet with trifling excuses from them. One of my so called close friend blatantly requested that I reduced the number of nights I had intended spending with her despite having discussed the trip with her incessantly prior to booking my inflexible ticket. Something came up! So she texted. The plan was to connect to other mutual friends through her as she was the closer one to me than them all. Was I displeased? A lot! Money wasted, unachieved goal.
The over all essence of my trip was to accomplish all of these. It was going to make me more fulfilled with my holiday after I head back and I’m tempted to say that it did not quite work out “as planned”. My current mindset equally played a role. I suddenly became uninterested with all the places and things I had planned to do as I saw the big deal in moving an inch of my body in engaging in them. It was like my usual introverted self and “routine” life got activated once again on the trip.
What am I trying to say?
- Sometimes, proposing must not lead to immediate disposing. Certain planned activities that you feel are good for you may not take place when you expect them to but the beneficial “unplanned” ones may concurrently. It’s all about being open minded and ready to take on the whim to live it out when either of the opportunities present itself later on. Spontaneity being the key.
- Your mindset doesn’t change merely because you changed your location. To a certain extent, new environmental factors tend to play a role in influencing one’s mind but that will only depend on how willing you are to let it. If you’ve always been introverted, it’s highly unlikely to plan and actually engage in any outdoor activities in a different environment even when the logistics are set apace. Also, if you happen to be somewhat inflexible like me who set out specific amount of resources to match specific set goals, discouragement from not achieving a planned goal due to resource wastage may play a huge role in easily foregoing other plans beforehand as with my close friend hence, leading to an unattained goal. Perhaps, adopting flexibility during planning will help solve this problem. But be aware that your mindset doesn’t change after a trip even if it’s to a neighbors house unless you tweak it beforehand.
- Accept things the way they are unless there’s still a chance for amendments. Look for smaller achievable activities or hobbies you can participate in. During my trip, instead of sulking over the unobtainable goals, I channeled most of my energy to adopting new hobbies one of which is the act of reading thus, bringing my writing fantasies to fruition as a result. These were unplanned yet are the best things to have happened to me in terms of personal mental growth and development as opposed to my usual circumscribed self. I have forged ahead and endeavoring to make the best of the remaining days I have left in sync with my new found hobby which I aspire to make long term.
I am currently making a conscious effort to input all I have learned and observed so far (my initial plans and not meeting up with some of it and my new me/ newly adopted hobbies) into enhancing my mindset advantageously and looking forward to evidently living it out for when I travel back to my home country encapsulating a how far and how well journey.
It’s a fair perspective to view it from right?
