Do you always have a plan for your life?

I had a life plan, but DH's long term illness changed it. My life is still good, just not the one I thought I would have.

Now I am trying to figure out where I want to live after I retire. My multi-level house is not going to work for us forever. It's tough to figure it out!

I had a sort of plan, then my dh almost died in an accident. so the last 35 yrs he has lots of physcial limitations and surgeries. now that he is about to retire.. I am only into maybe short term planning..

We have goals and plans to meet them.

We are also realistic that things can change - either in what we want, or things beyond our control - that may require revising our goals and plans.

Nope, I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gall (gale?)! DH is more of a planner, but we still live day by day. With my boys right now, plans quickly go out the window.

I had a new job opportunity fall in my lap this month so I'll be changing jobs soon. That has me a bit rattled, I'll admit!

I have a long-term plan for my life but not a short-term one. Does that sound crazy? I know where I want to live, how I want to spend the later part of my life etc. but as for short-term a lot of travel is in my near future.

I don't know if I want to go back to work again. The last job I had was too much for me. At this point does going back to work make sense for me? I don't have the answer to that one. There is nothing I see myself doing at this point. I thought i had a really cool job until I had to do it and realized otherwise. That was disappointing and I couldn't keep up with what they wanted me to do.

I used to volunteer someone and I hated the organization, I hated the people, I hated the executive director and dreaded going there. It was pure torture. Not sure I ever want to do something like that again. I would like to think there are better places out there to volunteer but that was awful.

So right now I am a bit lost until we go to China in April. Time will tell I guess.

We are approaching that stage of life. Our entire marriage has been dictated by his career with many moves (18 in 36 years). My childhood was the same (dad was in same industry). Now that we are faced with making the choice where to live on our own, I'm finding it to be very difficult. DH would sell out and move to WY in a heartbeat. I am quite happy to stay where we are and finish remodeling our house (we've owned it for 25 years and kept it through all the moves). I like the location, the cost of living is low and DD lives nearby. The only thing against it is the summer weather, which seems to get longer each year. Our current plan is to stay here and then travel during the hottest months to cooler spots. But negotiations are ongoing so who knows what we will end up doing.

I usually have a sort of plan with lots of back up plans. Kind of like "I'm at Point A and I want to get to Point B but here are 10 ways to get there." I usually at least like to run a best and worst case scenario through my brain so that I'm somewhat prepared. Of course things can happen that you don't expect, but it has helped me in the past to have thought through the process long before it happened and made some decisions when emotions, fear, time, etc. weren't an issue.

Example: Long before my dad died, I know that as an only child I would have to be the one that handled his estate and all that went with it. I was able to think through some of the issues that might have complications. When he had a car accident that ended his life, it wasn't the time or scenario that I thought it would be, but many of the "worst case" decisions I had already thought through were easily put into place.

DH, on the other hand, is a head in the sand kind of person. Which, quite honestly, has worked out just fine for him because he's fine with someone else making decisions. I know for sure that I have thought through 10 different plans if something happened to him but I'm also certain that the thought of him having to deal with things if something happens to me hasn't even crossed his mind.

I plan for things like my financial security and our combined financial security in the future, I have a general plan to sell my house and live in a condo at some point because I hate yard work and driving everywhere. Otherwise I make goals and then adapt as necessary. Life with a chronically ill spouse has taught me that you plan for things you can control (savings to a point, personal goals) and then work around the rest. I use the SMART goals method to meet goals because it provides direction, timelines and specifics, it's easier to meet your goals when they are written down and really attainable rather than some vague idea.

I've made plans and they never come to fruition. Lol! That's just how life is. It has taught me how to gracefully accept change. It's a very valuable lesson that I'm grateful for. I am now in a transitioning phase, too. Husband is retiring. Sons are entering adulthood. I actually have the time, the money and support to go back to college and finish my degree. I'm excited about our future and what it all entails. I also have a healthy dose of fear to keep me balanced. So we are just going to continue putting one foot in front of the other and enjoy our lives together come what may. It seems to be the only plan that we've been able to do successfully.

Nope. Then again, I don't know what I want to be when I grow up! LOL

I am 44, and I have always just lived how I wanted. I don't have big dreams, I have happiness. That is all I strive for.

I used to. Then DH was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Now I don't. Now my long term plan is survival I can't deal with anything beyond that.

I barely even have a plan for tomorrow. LOL.

We have a general direction we would like to go and some general ideas how to get there. We have had so many things alter our plans over the years that we don't really even have goals, we have ideas and we have thoughts.

My parents' needs, my husband's chronic illness, and now his dad's cancer have made major alterations to the path we thought we were on. We are a bit too fluid to have plans or goals - just dreams at the moment.

No, having kids changed everything. I'm now a lifetime caregiver; it is what it is.

Yes, we have a plan for when we will retire and how we will pay for it and where we will live and we are setting goals to make that happen. That said, plans can always change. Maybe someone has a serious illness or maybe my kids move across the country when they leave home. We're working toward our plan, but things are flexible enough that we can change as needed.