When Life Isn’t So Planner Perfect
“Mom, you shouldn’t have postponed my birthday party today!” Bellowed my freshly turned 6, Bella, at 5 a.m.
“Are you kidding me, Bella? It’s too early in the morning to be barking at me.” I moaned and rolled over hoping my angry birthday girl would just go away. I was not so lucky…
“Mom!” This time her hands were on her hips and further remarked “It’s not going to rain after all and now you’ve ruined everything!”
I couldn’t help look at her crazy, morning hair and compare her to, Ursula, the evil character in the Disney movie, The Little Mermaid. Actually, the whole Bella package reminded me of Ursula that early morning. I covered my head with the covers and couldn’t help but wish she knew how much love, time and effort I was putting into her party on the following day with no rain predictions. Being a mom can make life very unpredictable, wearisome and not so Planner Perfect!
These are the days that just make me want to throw in the towel and the day hasn’t even begun. Just when I start to get comfortable thinking my children would always (okay, most of the time!) appreciate all my hard efforts and love for them… they don’t. They wake me early in the morning just to tell me so. A wise woman once told me (Okay, it’s my mother!) that life is a journey where you never do arrive. There is no destination to speak of in terms of being perfect. So if we look at life’s struggles with an attitude that we will continually be teaching our children and learning ourselves on this life’s journey, we will be better prepared to handle it’s disappointments. Here’s my Planner Perfect tip for those less-than-Planner Perfect-days: start from scratch and change your plans! This may seem obvious, but what I really mean is start your day over intentionally. Sometimes, continuing on with your busy day with all of its appointments and chores make things worse. And if you have moody children that woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you’re going to need all the patience in the world, so unload that busy day onto another. When you are a life planner, sometimes you will need to pull everything you had down for your goals to accomplish to another day that won’t stress the family or yourself. My Bella was very grumpy that day because of her early hour birthday injustice and I needed to adjust myself accordingly. Be willing to be flexible to reduce stress. What may look and seem to not be accomplishing much on the outside is doing wonders of accomplishments for your mental health on the inside. Plan to plan nothing on the day with the wrench in it and take care of your mind. It’s a time to slow down, rest, reflect and can be used as amazing teachable moments for your children and yourself. Use your journal section of your planner as an oasis where you jot down what went wrong and how you can make changes to avoid certain pitfalls again. Turn the page to a new, fresh day and make it the way you want, setting new goals and then adjust your week accordingly. Remember life planning makes you in control and your planner is there for you to journal, reflect, constantly adjust, move around, and to set new goals for yourself. That is what life and life planning is all about, especially on those days when life is not so… Planner Perfect!
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