You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you. ~ Joseph Campbell
There are a few wise thinkers I turn to when I’m on an edge, ready to leap, but my legs are shaking.
Joseph Campbell, Yoda, Maya Angelou, Helen Keller, Fred Rogers, bell hooks.
Earlier in the month, with a fluffy bowl of truffle popcorn, I curled up to watch the Power of Myth {again} and let JC fill me right up with courage and trust.
He told me, follow your bliss.
If I follow my bliss, I must give up the plan I had for my life.
Giving up the life you planned can be achingly hard.
Especially, when the life you planned was pretty good.
The heart of my work has been to help my clients soulfully and strategically design lives they love.
Also known as, creating plans.
With my whole heart I believe in creating intentions, goals, and actions. Some days you can find me making lists for my lists.
But, sometimes you must give up the life you planed in order to live the life that is waiting for you because …
You’ll plan to get pregnant after you’re finished university. But, before you’re done school, you’ll pee on a stick and cry – fearfully overwhelmed with what two little lines mean. Nine months later you’ll understand why, as you gaze into the eyes of the soul who trumped your plans.
You’ll know what you want to be when you grow up, get rejected for the career of your dreams, default into general studies and flounder around for a year or ten. When you find the work you were meant to do, it will be better than winning the lottery.
The person you thought would be your best friend forever will choose another best friend. You’ll shake off the heartbreak, wipe away the tears and plan to find another person to call ‘bestie’. Twenty years later you’ll fly to another country and find yourself walking down the strange streets of a new city. You’ll find her there and she’ll become the living definition of soul sister.
The apartment that felt like perfection will be just out of reach, you’ll hustle to sign papers, transfer money, and make it happen. But, it won’t. A few months later you’ll be offered the adventure of a lifetime. You’ll sigh with grateful relief that you’re not handcuffed to a hefty mortgage.
You’ll say yes. A few days before the wedding you’ll call it off because it doesn’t feel right. You’ll be criticized for not going ahead with the plan, go on your honeymoon by yourself, and learn to love your aloneness – something you’ve been trying to do your whole life.
The retreat centre you booked for your event will be flooded and you’ll have to change venues at the last minute. The resident Shaman, who was supposed to be away, will miss his flight and guide your group through a mystical experience that transforms everyone. For the good.
You’ll plan the perfect camping trip, but your car will breakdown in the middle of the wilderness. There will be no service and you’ll be stuck for a day, before a fisherman finds you. He’ll teach you to fish and show you all the best camping spots. When you have children who want to learn how to fish, you’ll know exactly what to do and where to go.
Just as you get settled into your favorite seat on the plan {the seat you requested} you’ll be asked to move. Annoyed you’ll tug your luggage out of the compartment and grumble your way into a middle seat squished between two people. He’ll ask you if he can eat his sandwich and tell you stories that will make you believe dreams really do come true.
…
The woman you thought you’d marry will leave.
The man you thought would be the father of your kids won’t want to be a Dad.
The promotion you thought would be yours will fall through.
You’ll flunk the class you needed to pass in order to graduate on time.
The medication everyone told you would help won’t make a difference.
You’ll get sick on the vacation you waited all year for.
You’ll prepare to move to another country for work and the transfer will be given to someone else.
The agreement you thought was finalized will need to be changed.
You’ll drop your phone in the bathtub and miss the call you were waiting for.
Your computer will crash and you’ll loose the manuscript of the book you planned to publish.
…
You created a plan of for life, but Life may ask you to give it up.
Change can be agonizingly challenging. As the life you planned falls away, you may feel like everything is broken.
But, often, the breaking is part of the becoming.
This is the soulful side of life design.
Your soul knows the way, even if it’s different than what your mind imagined.
You’ll have to abandon the plan you thought you’d keep forever; only to find there is something beautiful waiting just around the corner.