Growing up, I had a lot of ‘knowns’ in my life: I always did well at school and my path to getting a good high school and then University was very clear. You could say I had the 30 year Strategic Plan in check at that time. At that point, school was the main ‘project’ and I did very well in it so the results were pretty much certain for me.
At some point especially after University, life gets real and I had to juggle more ‘projects’ which were so unfamiliar to me. There were things like relationships, work and personal development. These ones had so many sets of unknowns and the path was not straight forward, sometimes at all. But somehow I have always been able to find a bright idea that got me out of a hole and back to the path gain. At this point, we can say I was doing 1 – 5 year Strategic Plans easy…okay mostly one year easy.
Right now, it gets harder to see the path forward. More often than not, I come across dense fog or there is absolutely no path at all. Sometimes, I have no bright ideas that can work and at best and I can only see my next simple step. In place of depending on myself, I am learning to lean on the advice of other people. This has helped me see ‘new unfamiliar paths and practicing slowing down to patiently wait for the fog to clear.
I still have the bigger Strategic Plan but I am content with the fact that the path will rarely be straight forward but will be narrow, rough, obscured by dense fog or sometimes will completely disappear. Everyday I move on depending on whether I am able to go fast, slow down, take a break or seek help.