You don’t have to know everything right this minute. Sometimes life is overwhelming. There are too many places for you to focus and you’re stuck just trying to juggle everything coming at you and you can’t make progress or focus on any of them. That’s ok.

We get so focused on having a direction and making progress that we feel like a failure if all we can manage is the status quo. Life has seasons, this may just be your season of treading water through life.

Sometimes just keeping your head above water while your kids are in every sport or activity under the sun and you have a major project at work and your significant other has a health issue or a scheduling shift or whatever other thing there may be – sometimes managing to keep everyone fed and clothed is the major victory in and of itself.

Your life may resemble a pinball game during this season of life. That’s okay, your win is to just keep moving. At other times, you may have a clear linear plan that you’re working. Awesome, keep moving along the phases of that plan. Sometimes you are in such a transition that you haven’t been able to pick a path and you’re just dabbling in a bunch of different things. That’s okay too. You don’t have to have the next decade of your life mapped out.

Try things. Make small changes. Sit and dream for months on end. Do the next thing that seems doable. A plan may help you sift through all the noise and focus your life, but it may also be so rigid that it deprives you of other wants. I like a loose list of possibilities. I like to dream and brainstorm, but I also like room to pivot. There are lots of different ways to get to the outcome you desire. If you’re trying one way and it just doesn’t seem like the right fit, reevaluate and find another way to get where you want to go.

Strict adherence isn’t usually successful. Flexibility and adjustment is usually the better option. The journey has to be as satisfying as the destination. If the journey is miserable will you really be able to appreciate the final destination? Will it be worth it in the long run?

Don’t feel like a failure if you don’t have your grand plan. Feel things out and see where they go. Sometimes you plan and sometimes you just dead-reckon your way through life. Both can work just fine. Embrace your own style.