You can't plan life.
With my blog turning a year old a few weeks ago, I started thinking of where I am in life today and how different it is then where I thought I would be a year ago. I had it all figured out. I'd get a job in the Philadelphia area for the summer, just enough time to save up and move to NYC to get started on my masters in psychology in the fall. I'd have a chic little apartment, work a part time job, and be on my merry way to the eventual Ph.D...
None of it happened. I didn't find a job straight out of college, I got into graduate school in DC and not NYC, and I ended up investing my savings/funds internationally....in a French designer purse. And although I'm happy - I landed a great volunteer/internship position at a hospital, started working on a research study with a professor - it is not quite how I imagined life to be. With grandiose plans shattered...I often feel like I've time traveled four years. Like most grads, I'm back home and enjoying the luxury of home cooked meals. And while my original plan hasn't changed...it's no longer in the "must complete by this specific date/time/minute" list.
I'm not sure if I'll ever stop planning...but 2009 taught me one thing. Put in 110%, plan 90%, Expect 0%.
After all, life is what happens while your too busy making grand plans for it.