Planning Ahead

December 16, 2005 by NML

It’s that time of year when despite the fact that the year isn’t quite over, you may be thinking about next year and already you’ve thought of your next birthday, what the year will bring dating wise and whether you’ll meet The One, plus how many more friends will you lose to that rosemantic cemetry call coupledom? Nevermind how many weddings or christenings you may have. Somewhere in all of the thoughts there is a subconscious or very loud lifeplan. It’s when you expect or thought that you were going to do certain things and often has to be adjusted to accomodate for the fact that like a lot of things in life, things very rarely go according to plan!

For me, my lifeplan had me settled down with a significant other and having a child by the time I was 30. I also planned to buy a home and do practical things like save, and lets not forget that elusive driving test that I have managed to forget about doing for an entire year! I am 29 next July which means that I have about 18 months to do the whole lot and 9 months to road test the non-existent guy, decide he’s ‘The One’ and get pregnant. I could give myself an extra 9 months by saying that I should just be pregnant by 30, but realistically this actually isn’t going to happen. Have I mentioned that I have to get over my horrendous fear of childbirth in this time?

To be honest, it was a whimsical idea that has been there since my teens and is there to remind me of naivety. After all, if I had really wanted to stick to the plan, I wouldn’t have made such atrocious choices in men! However, having a ‘loose’ lifeplan does keep you focused on what you would like to achieve so that you make efforts to make those dreams come true. There are enough people out there putting pressure on you to be a certain way and giving you the impression that not being part of a twosome is a bad thing without putting undue pressure on yourself!
In the meantime, I need to seriously get the finger out and start flat hunting and also cut back on shoe expenditure so that I actually have some savings. Oh and the holidays, eating out, clothes…. Jaysus, I feel like a grown up!

NML is the editor of Baggage Reclaim