“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.”
~ Joseph Campbell
This has been a difficult lesson for me to learn in my life. I’m a planner, an organizer, the antithesis of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants person. I like to visualize the outcome, plan accordingly, set my course, and make it so.
I think, though I hesitate to even write this, that as I age I’m getting better at dealing with changed plans. Sometimes. Well, I try.
Yesterday, my plan for an office day spent writing and working on my genealogy project came to naught. Instead, as a result of nothing in particular, I spent most of the day in the kitchen.
I made, and canned, vegetable stock; baked bread; cooked up the week’s steel-cut oats; baked bread; made a batch of dog food with meals for a couple of weeks; and made lentil soup (https://lindahoye.com/lentil-soup/) for a lunchtime visit with Gerry’s sister and her hubby.
It was a busy, productive, and fulfilling day. Simply wonderful!
As I think about it now it was less a case of letting go of what I had planned, and more one of making a different choice. Having the ability to order my days, and change course as desired, is one of the great gifts of being retired.
It still sounds like you enjoyed the day. That’s the important thing I think. We have such a structured life that when the plan shifts we sometimes forget to enjoy it. Life is too short for that. Don’t be hard on yourself. The writing will happen another day.
the older I get, the less I like “changed plans.” I like to have my life in orderly rows. I try to fight, but cannot.