With a new year comes alot of uncertainty, and I’m here to remind you that it’s okay to not have it all figured out. There seems to be this pressure in life that you have to know your next steps. When in reality you didn’t even know your steps before, they kinda just happened.
Do you ever feel like you’re just blowing in the wind of life, without any sort of direction? I’ve felt like that before. And contrary to belief, it’s okay to feel that way. Alot of the steps I’ve faced in life have just happened, not because I planned them out.
I remember being at a work conference before and we all had to go around and say what our 5 year plan was, and what I said was met with shocked faces. I told everyone I didn’t have a plan, nor did I want one. My view is that we can plan and plan our lives but most of the time it doesn’t turn out the way we expect it to. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow let alone in 5 years time. That doesn’t mean I have no aspirations or goals. It simply just means I don’t have it figured out right now.
There seems to be this idea that when you leave school or college, everyone wants to know what job you’ll have. And then once you’re in a good job, they ask when you’ll be getting married. Then they ask when you’re having kids. It’s confusing why we are so focused on the next steps in our lives. Why not embrace where you are right now?
YOU’RE ON YOUR OWN JOURNEY
This life you’re living is your own journey, nobody else’s. Therefore it’s up to you what steps you take and when you take them. Don’t allow any outside opinions influence your decisions. It’s one of the beautiful things about life, no two lives are the same. We all experience the same situations so differently, and thats why you should never allow anyone else to dictate what you should do with your life.
Embrace the journey that you’re on, even if you don’t know the final destination.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE A PLAN
Not everything needs to be planned out (and this is where we hear screams from the very organised people in the world). Yes, I said it. You don’t have to plan everything out or have a plan for your life. As you can tell by this post I am a very go with the flow kinda gal. I do of course have some sense of structure but not when it comes to my life choices. I take things as they come.
That doesn’t mean having a plan is a bad thing, I guess its an each to their own kinda thing. But the point I’m trying to make is that you don’t have to have a plan in life.
SOMETIMES WINGING IT IS THE BEST OPTION
Alot of you probably won’t like this point but I have to talk about it. Winging it and having no idea what to do next is okay. I have done this so many times in my life. I left school and studied photography for 2 years and then went and worked at a super market. And now the job I do has nothing to do with retail or photography. I wasn’t expecting to go into the field that I’m in but I took chances and found a job I really love.
If you would have asked me when I was leaving High School if my job now is something I’d want to be doing at 25, I would have said HELL no. But here I am. I took chances and it lead me to a beautiful place. Sometimes its okay to let the stream steer your direction.
Would you rather have things planned out and organised or do you go with the flow?
Do you feel like you have everything figured out for your future?
Going into the New Year I think we all need to take a step back and go with the flow. None of us imagined that 2020 would turn out the way it did. We were forced to live a different life and still are doing so. Just another point about how we can plan and plan but life ends up going the way it wants to anyway. I hope that this was a positive reminder that its okay to not have it all figured out.
Olivia x
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Love this post! I’m half and half, I like to have half figured out and the rest just happen. I’ve planned before and it’s not worked out for two years so this year I’m gonna go with the flow. The last few months of 2020 I went with the flow and lots of good things came my way! Hope you have a great 2021 x
Good idea👏🏻 I think its great to try different approaches! I hope you do too! X
Love this post, I used to plan and thought I had everything figured – the start of my 30s have shown that is far from being true
We always love to plan knowing that it doesn’t ever turn out the way we want it to. So my thought is, why bother?😅
Exactly, I just go with the flow now 🤷🏻♀️
Best thing to do!
Such a great post Olivia. I totally agree with you. 2020 has been a tough year I hope 2021 turns out to be better
I agree! I hope so too☺️
Hi Olivia, good post and I do think you’ve hit on something. I think we can get stressed out when we plan then normal life gets in the way and we think we are failing or people are stopping us getting to where we want to be. I kind of sit with the comment with Linz, having a plan with the flexibility to know these can change shape and it’s okay when it does. I love spontaneity. I have an approach of plan for tomorrow, live for today. Happy 2021.
You’re so right! It is the feeling of failing and thats what can deflate us! And you don’t really want that feeling going into a new year or really at any time! Thanks for sharing that
They always said “if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans”. Winging it and following your gut is the way to go!
I love this 👏🏻👏🏻
This is very encouraging. These days there are so many pressures that we face but we should know that all our journeys are different with different timings but we’ll get there someday.
Yes! You’re so right. We should embrace the individual journeys were all on!
More of a go with the flow type! Used to be a teacher and now I’m a full time traveler! Planning comes with that, but it’s more of a guideline at this point!
Yes! I’m majority a go with the flow person!
Thanks, I really needed this reminder today 🙂
I love the way you give your readers permission to not always have a plan, and to not always have life figured out. I agree that there is a place for plans but life often delivers the unexpected. It’s impossible to know what is going to happen five, two, or even one year from now. Wishing you happiness this year 🙂
I think it’s perfectly acceptable for us to not have plans. Who says we have to?!
Same to you!
“Let our New Year’s resolution be this: We will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” – Göran Persson
Wishing you a Happy New Year with the hope that you will have many blessings in the year to come.
Love this! Happy New year to you too!
Great points Olivia. I’d rather plan, with flexibility as Paul Ariss & Linz commented, than not at all. Love Shelley DS’s comment about “if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” He (God) has the final stamp of approval on all plans. When things go awry without planning, I tend to blame myself and allude the cause to non-planning. But, when I do plan and still it goes awry, I conclude that’s the way it was meant to go. But, I would never have known the difference if I didn’t plan.
We could write another post on this 😊
Thanks for giving us something to think about … Happy New Year 2021 🙏🏾 for great things to come your way.
I have really been enjoying the various comments about this topic too! It gives us alot to think about!
Happy New Year to you too🤗
I am a planner and an organizer, and have been my whole life. Then, at age 47, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn’t plan for that! One of the most difficult things was for me to accept that I didn’t know what was coming next, nor could I plan for it. It taught me a lot about life, and myself.
These days, I’m still a planner and an organizer but I’ve learned to accept that we don’t know what’s around the corner. Sometimes, we just have to roll with it.
Wow, that was very unexpected I’m sure! I hope you are doing well now? 🤗
I think thats the main thing. just recognising that we cant be in control of every aspect of our lives!
Yes, I am okay now. Thanks. There are so many positive things that came out of that experience for me. I’m much more relaxed now….although my daughters might disagree from time to time. LOL
🙏🏾 grace and strength for each day.
Love this post✨🧡
Really needed this. You have explained it beautifully, let’s just go with the flow and embrace right now.
Thank you for sharing Olivia💕🙏🏽 xx
Love this so much! It’s so true! There’s so much pressure to plan out our whole lives and we should just be more care-free, it’s really eye-opening 🤍xx
Great read. And yes going with the flow is good
Amen.
Thank you for this post, everyone seems to have plans and goals and I prefer to find my own path. Happy new year, may your 2021 be filled with light, love and happiness 💫✨
I enjoyed reading your post as well as all of the comments. I would say I am 50/50. I like to plan and organize but I can easily change my plans.
I love this post!! I’ve been struggling lately with feeling like I’ve got no idea what I’m doing with life etc etc etc but I’m realising lately that most of us don’t… and that’s ok! 😄
I think sometimes having a plan that you’re dead set on hinders you more than helps you. When I was younger, I knew where I wanted to end up and how I was going to get there, then when I was knocked down and could no longer pursue that plan I was lost in the upset. Turns out that upset allowed for something more meaningful in my life, yet I still feel the pull and disappointment of that long ago plan. I say, have a plan but be open to the flow.
Love this post. I feel like I have nothing figured out in life. I have a chronic illness and that has really set me back in life. I have no plans other than getting better and that makes me sad sometimes.
It really did clam me down. I liked the optimism of life that you have. I am feeling quite better realizing that I am not the only one who has not figured it out what’s going to happen next. Thank sooo much. I am really grateful. Hope we have it all together.
Great read 👍. It’s a good idea to have plans but an even better idea to know how to work with the flow as not all plans always work out the way we want it.
This post is a much needed one!!
Actually I have seen people around worrying about what they Are going to achieve in their respective lives , they don’t have a plan and all and I think this post is just for all those people who think that they cannot achieve anything without having a plan.❤
By the way I’ll love if you go through my posts 😊
Thanks so much for reading!
You’re welcome ❤
Yes, it certainly is okay not to have it all figured out. We need to give ourselves a break here. I think, Olivia, whether you plan or don’t plan are strategies in themselves, which is the important X factor. Although I am a strategist and planner by nature, I am more than comfortable winging it for long periods of time. Even if one does plan, it is sound to build in some redundancy i.e. blocks of time where nothing is accounted for – it could simply be “me time😊 “
I do like to have goals but not necessarily a plan. Just goals to guide me but if I don’t meet them, I keep it moving
Yes, goals are great!
Goals like finish my degree in 4 years but not anything crazy like be a millionaire at 21. Although it would be cool to be a millionaire at 21
Hahah it really would!
Love how you word it out! I used to plan excessively. Noticed it became too detrimental, so I took on the winging it approach. Now? It’s a mix of both. Best wishes for 2021!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts with us! 🙂
Great post, thank you! This was the biggest lesson I learned last year. Sometimes you just CAN’T plan everything. Let’s go with the flow 😉