Do You Have a 5 Year Plan?
Project 365, Day 188/365
I’m going to start today by letting everyone know the winner of the July Rabbit, Rabbit kitchen towel giveaway. I entered the number of comments into a random number generator and 20 popped up. So the 20th comment on that post was Shaney Evans. Congrats Shaney! Check your inbox for an email from me. 🙂
This evening, I decided to revisit the blog post from last month where I asked you all for ideas for what to write, figuring I’d pull something fun from the lot. I was tempted by a hefty handful of them today, but by the time I got to the end of the list, I realize a few of you asked me about where I see myself in five years.
Here’s the thing: I’ve never had a 5-year plan. Like…ever. I’m not much of a planner, to a fault. I am incredibly impulsive and don’t like the idea of locking myself mentally out of whatever life throws my way. I never really thought there was anything wrong with that, necessarily. To each their own. But when you’re not a planner, you find yourself never quite feeling settled, or ever quite moving toward something. Life feels like a moving target, while you wait for opportunity or happenstance to come to you.
This is not to say I just expect things to fall in my lap. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that at all, but I’m not a very patient person, so the idea of plotting out my life in five or—even worse—10 year increments sounds painfully slow. I have a general sense of where I want my life to be in a handful of years, sure, but there are no moves ahead of me waiting for me to complete to get there. Am I alone? Do other adults have things way more figured out than I do?
The fact that I’m a bit more fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants isn’t exactly Charles’ favorite quality about me. It keeps things interesting, I’m sure, but he doesn’t quite have the stomach I do for taking chances. Take this blog, for instance. Or rather, Project 365. If you read that first post all those months back, you’ll know that the idea came to me on January 1st, 2021 in the car as we drove around, and by that night, I was sitting down at my laptop committing myself to doing that very thing for the next 12 months. If I think too long about something, I’ll never do it. My beloved Charles, however, can think on something for years and years and years. He’s an over-analyzer, an over-planner, while I’m the complete opposite. It’s a perfect match, folks!
But, as we grow older, my lack of planning is very clearly catching up with me. Where many people my age (or younger) have been saving for big life expenses—kids, home, even vacations—I’ve, eh, not done any of that. Not to get into my personal finances (mostly because they are also Charles’ personal finances and I’ve already probably shared too much for his liking) but while I do have savings, they aren’t tied to anything. Do we want to buy a house one day? Sure! Do we want to have kids one day and one of us stay home with them for a bit so we have to live off of one income? Yeah, I think so. Are we ready for any of that, haha not necessarily.
Maybe if I had a five-year plan that I sat, oh…five years ago, I’d have some things in place I’ve always imagined having in my life. There’s still plenty of time to plot out some things, and maybe this post is the nudge I need to do that, but I’m curious, other adults out there…
Have you ever made a “years-long” goal-oriented plan for yourself or your family? If so, how has it affected your life? For better? For worse? Did you ever feel like your plan kept you from serendipity? Are you rigid about your plan, or have you pivoted as needed? I’d love to hear either way, if you’re comfortable sharing.
Thanks to all in advance, and see you tomorrow, FOAS.