Life has this little way of just throwing curve balls at it when we least want it too. No matter how much people plan or want something to happen; it is more likely than not that there will be a few obstacles to overcome. We could plan our entire lives to go somewhere, and then end up somewhere completely different because that is just where our lives take us. Some people fight these obstacles with everything that they have because it does not go according to plan, and others embrace the changes. As we all get older, I think we need to just start excepting the change, and taking the chances even if they do not go according to our plan.

Let’s really think about this a minute. When I was a kid, I used to tell myself all the time that I wouldn’t drink ever and that beer was disgusting. Well, guess what? Now I like beer, and I have definitely drank more than I have planned on. Another example? I planned my whole life to be a journalism major in high school, and I was going to go to USF just like my cousin did. I skipped my entire first fall semester of college, and I wasn’t sure I was going to go back. And I did. To UNF. It was probably the best decision I ever made.

If I did things according to the “plans” I had set all the time, well I wouldn’t have ended up in a city that I fell in love with the moment I laid eyes on it. My degree would not be in psychology, and I may not have fallen into the career path of my dream by moving back to that same city. If I did things how I had wanted, I would have stayed single all the way through college, and I wouldn’t have gone through what was the biggest life lesson I will ever learn.

The point of this is, plans change. And we need to learn to start going with the change and accept that sometimes things happen that we cannot help. Some people will end up in the relationship they never wanted, or the relationship they never thought possible. Some people will not end up in the city they thought they would be in at the end of their life. Some people will not go to the college that they planned their entire lives for. And some people will have the best time of their life just living. And that means not planning out every little detail. Because trust me, it won’t happen the way you want it to. But whatever does happen could be the best thing you ever experienced, if you accept it.

So I encourage you to try this, change from planning to living for you. If you are about to start college, make sure you are exploring your options. If you don’t like your major, change it. If you find that dream job you always wanted, take it. If you find someone you like, tell them. If you want to move to a new city and never look back, what is stopping you? We need to start doing things that aren’t always according to our plan, take some risks and go with the flow; because those curve balls aren’t going to stop anytime soon.