This photo is by Alex Bellink and was used via a Creative Commons license from Flickr.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/zbellink/4710655067/
Raise your hand if you had a strange morning today.
See me raise both my hands and perhaps one of my feet as well. Not only would this be an interesting use of many muscles of my body, it would also reinforce the point that whatever one does in life, a plan B in the wings is the best thing you can do to continue building forward momentum in your life.
When I was done with my daily kid schlep I was so excited to jump into the morning full speed making new networking connections online. Off I went, a good start, a grand start, I thought.
I had been online for all of fifteen minutes when my computer decided it was not going to be a morning filled with new networking connections online, it was going to be a quiet moment without the hum of a computer.
Usually people fall onto a point somewhere on the full force tantrum and throwing things around the home or office to deciding since the computer wasn’t cooperating, I can take the whole day off and taking your car keys and heading to the nearest shopping center or art museum or coffee house.
Welcome to Plan B whether it is your choice or not.
Think of it as Plan Bold or Plan Bountiful or Plan blah blah blah if that serves you.
The first step is to be conscious you have choices.
Yes, you make choices over your responses, even with the top of the spectrum: throwing a tantrum.
I have a long history of never throwing tantrums, primarily because in my family strong emotions in any direction were frowned upon. I never even knew how to show my anger until a few years ago. Even now I continue to work on it. I prefer to think of my expression of anger as conscious anger. Meh. I’m learning as I go.
Throwing tantrums is usually not a part of my plan B.
The second step is to move away (physically) from the “problem” which for me meant backing away from the keyboard and heading to another room. Give yourself some space to putter without referring in your mind back to whatever it is that was your plan A. No thought-whining allowed at this point.
I watered the plants. I went out to my car to get some supplies from the trunk.
I put away some books that were left out of place.
I poured myself a cup of coffee.
The third step is to choose to do SOMETHING, preferably something that is constructive and keep your mind from tipping into the Woe is Me Zone.
I have been working on mini-works-of-art using painted paper, vintage illustrations and my imagination. I had a new paper punch I wanted to try out and even though the first few attempts at punching weren’t perfect, they did move me forward.
That’s what you want, after all, is forward motion to continue building momentum.
What happened next is so common for me when I step into “Time for Plan B and I am going to smile, everyone, I am choosing to smile…” place.
I found some missing items. A frame I could put one of my new pieces into so I would have a piece done. Complete. From start to finish in less than a half hour. I also found a piece I had purchased to upcycle but hadn’t touched for months. I started working on it and fell into meditative love.
It is helpful if you keep projects or ideas nearby that have
that sort of mindfully
mindless quality of repetitive movement. You might
choose to go for a walk. You might choose to knit. You might choose to shoot
hoops.
Because I work with paper, there are always supplies and ideas rumbling around in my head. I knew I didn’t want to read, because I didn’t want to put more language in my head that would lead back to “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I can’t be networking with so many people to help my business keep expanding!”
It is so easy to go there until you consciously choose Plan Beautiful, Plan Boost or Plan Oh-Baby-Oh!
Here they are, your simple three steps to accepting your second string plan and feeling deliciously content with it, even though earlier you might have wanted to bang your head against the wall.
- Be conscious you have choices about your response to not being able to continue with Plan A.
- Move out of the physical space where Plan A once lived and putter, mindfully mindlessly.
- Choose to do something, ANYTHING, that will move you even an inch forward from where you were when Plan A was tossed out the window.
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© 2013 by Julie Jordan Scott
This is my twenty-third post (of 31!) for the January Ultimate Blog Challenge. Watch here for challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing Tips and General Life Tips and Essays.
