I was traveling recently and this provided a reminder of how it's not always possible or desirable to keep to a rigid plan.
I had planned to go backpacking with some friends. It should have been just a simple overnight trip here in the mountains of Colorado, but the first place we planned to go was closed, as was the second area we picked. It was getting late in the day, so we looked on a map and decided to go to another place near that second area. It turned out to be beautiful and quiet, some welcome time in nature.
After the overnight, we hiked around for a couple hours in the morning, and took a while to visit and pack up. By the time we made it back to the park-and-ride where I had parked, it was about 3 pm, with only about 4 hours of daylight left in the day. I had two extra days set aside, and I had planned to do a road trip to southwest Colorado, but by the time I got to my car that day, I was in no mood for a long drive. I picked out a nearby campground, called to confirm it might still be open, and head over there, with just about 45 minutes of driving. It turned out to be just what I needed. Rather than spending time driving, I was in the woods, grilling some burgers, and later after dark I laid back in a small clearing and got a view of the stars and the Milky Way.
The next day, I was still thinking of doing a road trip, but I wasn't feeling too motivated by that, so instead I explored where I was (Mt. Evans area, Colorado) and wound up doing a 5 hour hike in perfect weather to the summit of Mt. Evans and back. By the end of that hike, it was clear that I wasn't road tripping, so I went back home, and took my extra day as a staycation, catching up on stuff at home.
It was a disappointment not to see the sights of Mesa Verde National Park or the Four Corners area, but instead I got to have relaxing time with friends, delicious grilled burgers, a hike in great weather, and a good amount of personal maintenance and thinking time.
I guess my point here is that a plan is a structure, something to guide your choices, but life gets in the way of perfectly following many plans. When this happens, you don't have to throw out the plan completely. Instead, find options that work within all or part of the structure you created, choose among the options, and keep on going until you reach the next decision point.
In the subject of health and fitness, this comes up all the time. Sometimes you can't do the food prep. Sometimes work does get in the way of the gym. But you can do what you can today to recover your balance and be ready tomorrow to get back to the plan you had made in the days past.
In this blog/site I'll be touching more on my experience as a cancer survivor, but for the moment let's mention that a cancer diagnosis too is another way that life can derail the plans that you had. It's a serious challenge that requires serious attention, and a sense of humor so you don't get too serious. But in the end it's just another obstacle to go over and around, and you'll eventually get to something on the other side, even if it wasn't where you thought you were going originally.
