Day 29 - Planned Spontaneity

If you were to take a poll of all the people that know me and ask them, "Is Tristinn spontaneous or is she a planner?", I think many people would answer !spontaneous! very enthusiastically. That is, until you ask the people who know me best, and then you would find that I am WAY into planning.  I mean, I love Google calendars because you can organize all the events of your life onto different color-coordinated calendars that you can hide or display.  I have lists EVERYWHERE and each list is very tailored to a specific purpose. I am quite busy and am involved with a bazillion projects. The only way to have that many commitments (and follow through with them), is to be organized with every particle of your life.  And yet....

I have this feeling that people perceive me as spontaneous.  I enjoy life and I'm always talking about adventures and dreams - those are not necessarily things people associate with planning. I'm comfortable with going with the flow and often would rather just "see what happens".

So how can I be a committed planner and a committed "go with the flow-er"? Those two things seem mutually exclusive.

I prefer to believe in something I've dubbed planned spontaneity.  I personally don't want to be just a planner or just a spontaneiter. Extreme planners can be seen as rigid, unyielding, and easily perturbed (i.e. when plans go awry). Extreme spontaneous people can be seen as flaky, undependable, and a little shallow.  Both of these extremes make me a little sick to my stomach.  I don't want to be unyielding and I don't want to be flaky.  

So I build planned spontaneous moments into my life as a way to meld these two extremes; blocks of time where I allow myself to just see what happens. I try to not commit to anything and I relax in the knowledge that there is nothing I'm supposed to be doing so I can do whatever I want.  Ergo, planned spontaneity. So far, it's served me well.

MORAL OF THE STORY: If you're a planner, lighten up a little bit.  If you're into spontaneity, you might enjoy the peace that come with making some actual plans.