Small Steps: Planning in Pencil
I have to tell you, I really struggle with that aspect of Army life. I am a planner. I revel in the anticipation and preparation of an event. It’s half the fun! Actually completing my plans is just the culmination.
The Army’s unpredictability and predilection for random changes of plan (and the suddenness of those changes) can be…….Distressing. Bewildering. Cause for throwing breakable objects. While I’m flexible, I like to know what to expect.
So my answer to this Army challenge is to plan in pencil. I still keep a thorough planner (laughably so, according to my soldier). Whenever an interesting event shows up in the FRG weekly update- it goes in the planner. If something happens and the Army decides we won’t be available to attend that event- no big deal….it’s written in pencil and I can always erase it.
There are a few things that go in pen: birthdays, certain holidays. But learning to plan in pencil (and be willing to do some erasing and rescheduling) has been a valuable part of my evolution as an Army Spouse. It has taken a tremendous amount of pressure off. I tend to get stressed trying to coordinate everything: housework, baby’s naps, my own activities, my Soldier’s activities and work demands. Learning to take a step back and use that eraser gives me so much more choice– which everyone knows is a precious commodity when your life is tied to the United States Army.
On the day I wrote about in Why I Love This Life, I made a last minute decision to reschedule my son’s 12 month appointment. It had been a tremendously stressful, busy couple of weeks, We were getting ready to head out of town and I had barely squeezed that appointment in. Plus, my Soldier had taken the car seat to work accidentally so I was running late from the get go. Taking a deep breath, rescheduling that appointment and spending the afternoon with an old friend was what I needed. It was a chance for my Soldier to reconnect with a battle buddy, we all relaxed and were in a better frame of mind for our trip to spend time with family.
Those sorts of experiences enrich the soul. Those are the memories we keep- not rushing to a routine Dr’s appointment that left the baby cranky. You can’t schedule those moments. So when life offers them, it is vital that we are flexible enough to take a deep breath and embrace them.
