Change of plans...

How well do you adapt when plans change? I’m awful at it. I’ve gotten much better as I’ve gotten older, but still there is this internal temper tantrum when things have to change. Outside, I’m pretty cool and comfortable. But what does plans changing have to do with minimalism?

We have our plans and our ideas and goals that we want to accomplish. Most of the time, they don’t always go in that straight line that we’ve planned or projected. Usually it looks something like this:

We have those ups and downs along the way. Those slow downs and get back to its. How we respond is important to how successful we will be. This has been on my mind a lot over the past couple of days. Monday, my girls were off school for the MLK holiday. I forgot that my wife was off as well. So I was able to do more in the garage and outside than I had originally planned, which was fantastic. I knew it was going to get cold this week and there was a potential of freezing rain and ice, which is not normal for Houston. And Monday late afternoon, school was cancelled for everyone for Tuesday. And it got nasty outside. For Texas. But because it was cold, working in the garage wasn’t going to be the most fun or really most productive. I needed to work inside. So I started working in our office. I dealt with files and paper that needed to be dealt with. Of course my work to-do list got much longer, but I was able to get a few things done remotely. Organ practicing for Sunday morning...not so much. I don’t happen to have an organ at my house! And now we fast forward to today. ANOTHER day off of school. It’s still icy, but should clear up by later today. So I’ll be able to get out, but even this morning, I was still able to work on some more projects. The girls got their rooms picked up yesterday, so that’s a huge first step for them. But the garage still sits.

The garage was my goal for the month. Now, I could pout and be frustrated that I didn’t get much done in this great extra time I had. Or, I could stop, take a breath, and realize that there are still 14 days left in the month, and warmer weather to come. I’ll have time on Monday, and the following Sunday/Monday. What I want to get done will happen. I just have to be patient and go with the flow. But gosh, that’s really hard. Tomorrow morning, everyone will be back in a normal routine and our 2 day work/school week will commence. But it’s all about being adaptable and able to change with how life goes. You can do it!