When I was little, I remember being tucked in at night and asking my mom "what's the plan for tomorrow?" and I remember her saying "Well, you wake up in the morning with a happy face. Then you put on your clothes for the day. Then you'll brush your teeth..."
While I'm sure the plan continued past hygiene, that is the extent of the conversation that remains vivid in my memory. Now, boys and girls, this charming anecdote should tell us 2 things:
1. I have always been a planner
I always wanted things to turn out the right way, of which (of course) there was only one. Alas, my young self was not as smart as it thought it was, and there are a few glaring examples of where I was a bit out to lunch.
But it took a while to get here - and realizing these things now doesn't mean I didn't struggle bitterly with giving up the life I had previously mapped out. "the best laid plans of mice and men...." amiright? Moreover, attempting to have a vice-like control on the outcomes of my future did not always keep me in the best of spirits. Which is not to say I'm done planning. I just keep several on the go at a time, I'm usually equally prematurely excited about all of them and I've managed so far to not be crushed by the remarkably frequent rate at which none of them work out, and end up just fine with the un-planned for course of action.
Which brings me to lesson 2 from my childhood tale, the telling memory of item number one on every 'tomorrow's' agenda:
2. Happiness is kind of a priority
Structure (is one thing that) makes me happy. And maybe right now I just can't have a 5 year, 1 year or even 3 month plan. But I can have daily and weekly ones. I make smaller lists more likely to get several check marks. And I can toss all my plans and lists and remember instead to focus on 2013's SINGLE resolution (unlike the 14 from 2012...) and RELAX. Because "everything is falling into place perfectly as long as you don't get too picky about what you mean by place. Or perfectly" (Brian Andreas). And I am the happier for it.