To Plan or Not to Overplan, That is The Question

Freedom of voice and freedom of choice are big themes in life anywhere. Here in America, they are imperative. Especially here in New York, where being a Type A person is a point of pride (necessity even) the themes of choice, freedom and control are safeguarded the way virgins of old guarded the maidenhead.

I admit, I’ve been that girl on occasion. I have a pair of those shoes, the Type A, scheduled and planned pair of shoes. We all know the shoes, and the girl who wears them so well. I’ve been her. The one who’s on the treadmill at 6:30, working with a trainer at 7, networking at a Park Avenue café by 8:30, juggling two consulting clients between 9:30 and 7 then meeting my beau at a Bowery Poetry Club reading featuring Yusef Komunyakaa. This New Yorkified version of me pops out at the occasional weekend too – out of bed by 8, coffee then a shower (yes, I take a shower before going to the gym!), a bit of cardio then yoga at 10, brunch with girlfriends, a bit of work on the non profit, cocktails with girlfriends then a late movie with my beau.

That pair of shoes, that girl – they’re fun and have a place in my world. But they aren’t my favorites. Yes, I cherish my independence and freedoms. Yes I am a strategist after all, so I like a good solid, well thought-through plan. Yes, I play out scenarios and prepare for a range of possible outcomes. But I also like to let the angels and the cosmos work their magic. Let the moon and the stars shape the fates. I like to hope, to try and read the signs.

I’m sure I’m not the only one in New York or anywhere for that matter who has some of that laissez-faire. The one who lets the traffic light changes get her from the Meat Packing District to Gramercy Park. The one who falls in love with shoes she can’t afford and says to them, “if you’re still here in 2 weeks then we were meant to be together.” The one who gets pangs of childlike wonder at the first star and makes that wish while whispering with eyes closed “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight. Wish I may, wish I might have this wish I wish tonight.”

There is a sense of freedom to be found in letting go, trusting yourself and your own raw instincts; in giving in to a sense of the divine and magical; in spontaneity rooted in joie de vivre. Whoever said life was what happens when you’re busy making plans must have been some kind of prophet. My own life is a series of unplanned ‘that’s exactly what I needed’ occurrences from the beginning. I’m a honeymoon baby, I could not have come at the worse time. My parents got married in December and left for the US the summer that followed because Papa was starting his post-grad studies. Yes, I was smuggled into the country! When I was eleven I was accepted to an exclusive high school for the gifted which would have been the perfect plan for me, but I was uncomfortable with the idea and stayed in my school where I made some of my best girlfriends. I accidentally got into my career simply by being at the right place at the right time and asking the right questions. The list goes on.

So here’s the question, how much planning and scheduling is too much? When does planning the life get in the way of living the life? I am no less ambitious or driven than your textbook type A person, but I cannot spend my life planning my life either. What type does that make me, I wonder? I am clearly not a pure-blooded A, in the first place my blood type is AB. AB, what could that mean? What type could that make me? I checked online for possibilities, and found a good one: Aurora Borealis, the northern lights named for the Roman goddess of dawn and the Greek name for north wind. I like that, possibility and direction working in harmony. It sounds more like me, and you know what – I think I can even find the perfect shoe to match that vibe. Hmmm…I think I can sneak in a shoe shop between brunch and yoga tomorrow!