How To Respond When Plans Don't Happen?

Are you a planner like me? Do you like to plan things ahead of time and be specific with what to do today, tomorrow, next week, or next month? Then again, I am pretty sure that many times you have encountered moments that are out of plans.

You know how frustrating it should be when things don't happen the way we want them to. How do you respond when plans don't happen? When these circumstances happen, that's where our faith comes in. A test of character to choose options between moving forward or getting stuck in that situation.

How frustrating it would be when you have done everything you could to make things work but you still don't get the desires in your heart? When you compromised everything for a particular reason and yet, nothing is happening?

This is where our patience and character are tested. As they say, that's when you discover the true character of a person.

Personally, back when I was younger, I was pretty aggressive with my plans in life. I was very specific with my timelines. I was very serious about how things should deliver according to my plans. But what happen when they didn't? Hatred, doubt, and immaturity took control of me. I doubted God for his ability of why he can't make things work for me.

It was a result of long dues of frustrations, questions that were left unanswered, desperation, and worries without a sense of direction. But God has never forsaken me. He saved me at that moment and from there I had so many realizations going forward.

For some reason, you would say that it was all a result of the choices I made but looking back, I have never made something bad to the people around me. I was a good daughter, I studied hard to graduate from college. In my own evaluation of myself, I can say that I am a good person. But why am I not blessed with the things I want to happen?

Well, maybe it isn't the path for me. God or the universe must have something in store for me and these are how I responded to those questions to condition my mind:

It didn't happen because you're not meant to be on that path.

Imagine a guy choosing which road to take heading to his destination. He's given 3 options: one concrete straight road, one rocky zigzag road, and one road in a forest.

Which road or path will you choose to take? The majority of us would pick the concrete road because for sure that is the easiest ahead but what we miss out on is the journey that lies ahead once we get onto that track.

It didn't happen because you are still not mature enough to handle things.

Indeed, it didn't happen to me because way back, I easily get overwhelmed with my emotions. I was and still may be (working on that) to handle situations and create good decisions out of them.

You know as you encounter a lot of struggles and failures, it tests your character as an individual. It may not be the situation you have envisioned for yourself but please know that there are still good things to acknowledge behind those failures.

Familiarity with these circumstances gives you more chances of winning because you have been into that situation before and with that, you already know the adjustments on how far you'll take to not commit the same mistake over and over again.

It didn't happen because everything happens for a reason.

This is some sort of an excuse as others would say but I truly believe that if we work hard on our dreams and aspirations in life, we could make things happen. It may not happen to the road you chose to take to but you can always take a detour. You'll never know, that detour has prepared so much in your life that you will definitely cherish and enjoy throughout the days.

It's really hard to process things especially when you are in that zone but believe that you'll get through it. Surround yourself with the people you feel safe with, people who share similar interests with you, and people who will make you appreciate that life is not just about winning but also losing in the hurdles but making a decision to stand up again and move forward.

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Thanks for reading.

Keep safe everyone!