I like to know
exactly where my life is going and I am a bit of a control freak, and
for those reasons “ten-year-plans” don’t work for me. The
concept is good, but ten years is a long and a lot of things can
change, and when that happens I feel lost because my life isn’t
where I planned it to be ten-years before (silly, I know). For
example, when I was fifteen I wrote out a ten-year plan that included
a husband, a house, at least one kid, and a job as a teacher. When I
was about twenty-three I revised the plan to include law school
within five years. Twenty-five was a really hard birthday for me
because I had none of the things I had planned and my job at a law
firm had cured my desire for law school; I felt like I had failed and
I wasn’t sure where to go next (learning to go with the flow is an
on-going process for me). In retrospect, I am glad my plans did not
pan out because at fifteen I had no clue of the amazing things the
Lord had in store for me. While I would love to be a wife and a
mother, that opportunity has not yet come along yet and I still have
time. I have had so many enriching and fulfilling experiences over
the past decade that I wouldn’t have been able to if I were married
but will make me a better wife and mother (my mission for the LDS
church and traveling the world with my job are among the most
significant). As for law school, I would be miserable if I had
followed that plan; a career in law is definitely not for me. Instead
of writing out ten year plans I find it’s much better for me to
have long-term goals. Goals are much more flexible than trying to
determine exactly where my life will be.
All that having
been said, I have decided that short-term plans, those within the
foreseeable future, are perfectly okay. So, I decided to write out a
five-week plan of all the things I hope to accomplish by the end of
my contract.
My Five-Week Plan
(a lot of it is food based, don’t judge):
-Eat as much
paella as my stomach can hold (I’ve done it before – I was
uncomfortably full – and I’ll do again)
-Taste wrinkly
potatoes (a specialty of the Canary Islands)
-Take a picture
of Rick’s Café
-Buy myself a
parasol in Cadiz, Spain (by the time I decided I wanted one last time
the shop was closed for siesta)
-Acquire a
healthy “glow” (My dermatologist would kill me if she found out I
was tanning and I usually go straight to red, but it would be nice to
go back home a shade or two darker than pasty white)
-Quote Casablanca
as many times as humanly possible while in the city of Casablanca
-Find really
unique Christmas presents
-Find a monkey
charm in Gibraltar
-Find something
to be in awe of each day
-Eat pizza in
Italy
-Try to use the
language of the country as much as possible, even if it's as simple
as saying “gracias” instead of “thank you;” I'm in their
country
-Buy
Italian yarn
-Take
time, when visiting churches, to step out of tourist-mode for a
moment and spend a moment reflecting or being reverent
-Eat
a lot of pastries
-Take
time to notice the people and the character of the city instead of
focusing solely on the major landmarks
-Enjoy
myself
I'll
try to keep you updated on whether or not I stick to the plan. These
next five weeks will be a great way to end the contract.
