Fashion GorJess Blog: Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans

By Unknown 11:32

I always used to hear this phrase but didn't quite get what it meant, until now... In September 2016 I will wave goodbye to my twenties, the decade that brought me a Masters Degree, a beautiful daughter, some amazing jobs, friends for life, and more fashion disasters than I care to think about (especially the earlier 20s) and I am starting to realise that this might not be such a bad thing. Older? Definitely! Wiser? I think I'm getting there! The older we get the quicker time seems to fly by and before we know it another year has passed. I am definitely a regular culprit of being that person in work on a Wednesday saying, ‘Thank God it’s nearly the weekend.’ It's like you wish the days by every week just to get to the weekend, or wish the months by to get to your next holiday or trip away, when in fact by doing this, it’s actually your life that you are wishing away!

'I need to go there', 'I have to do that', I constantly feel the need to have plans, my life is about filling my diary as much as humanly possible and not leaving enough time for myself to sit back and think about what I actually want to do. I am so torn between thinking ‘Life is short so do what you enjoy,’ and ‘You have to work to survive and live comfortably!' I think this is a regular occurrence with many people.

I am obsessed with lists, my days consist of lists from start to finish from the moment I get to work until the moment I get to bed, everything has been planned and incorporated into some kind of list. Sometimes it's actually pretty exhausting when you think about it, because the list never ends, once you take something off another thing gets added to it!

Work
Go to the gym
Have a cup of tea
Relax
Talk to my boyfriend for a few minutes

If this sounds like you then do me a favour and STOP IT! Sit back and think about where you want to be in 5 years time and create a bigger picture other than the to do list on your iPhone Notes (yes this is me!) on what you need to do over the next few days.

I think where this saying 'Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans' comes from is that we get so caught up in the little things every day such as making plans and lists that we actually forget our purpose and push our dreams to one side. Everything up until our early 20s is all planned for us - go to preschool, go to primary school, go to secondary school, go to university, get a job... we actually have a list created for us by our parents before we are even able to talk!

Your twenties are a funny decade, you are still growing and finding out about yourself and I have definitely spent most of them still figuring out who or what I want to be! One thing I have realised in the last few months is that you should always follow your dreams. You don't want to look back in 20 years and feel like it's too late to succeed at what you really wanted when you were younger. Whether it was to write a book, travel the world, or jump from a plane. We all have different ideas of who we want to be or what we want from life and only we can measure our own idea of success.

I follow a blog called Marc and Angel Hack Life, by two very wise men. They totally inspire me and I feel sometimes that everything they write is meant just for me. Now that is a talent in itself! Last week I received an email from them entitled: 7 Things You Really Need to Stop Putting Yourself Through,and the following point really jumped out at me:

Stop attaching yourself to what’s not meant to be. – We all have this idea in our heads of how things are supposed to be, but sadly this is why we end up disappointed. Expect less. Enjoy more. Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you WANT because you NEED something else. And what you need often comes when you’re not looking for it. When it’s meant to be, it will be.