Okay, take a deep breath before you freak out after reading the title.

Better? Good. Now, hear me out.

Before these two months of unsolved mysteries, I was Mrs. Plan A, B, C all the way to plan Z. Ask some of my students, who would come visit me with future plans. My husband, who would always wait to hear my if…then statements. Or, ask my friends, who would ask me my opinion on their own futures. My response would always be: do you have a plan B? C? F?

It may be a bit obsessive (I know). Planning is just my way to calm my anxieties. Yet, if there is one thing I have learned during this uncertainty, it is that no matter how much I prepare, my plans could be shattered just like that (**insert finger snap). And then what? I cry myself to sleep? I freak out? I worry? Over what? Over the things I cannot control?! I’ve learned…it is wasted energy.

So, I’ve learned (correction, learning) how to let go of some planning and preparing.

Do not get me wrong, there is a time and place to plan and be prepared. I still prepare for my trainings (and probably over-prepare). I continue to plan my weekly meals. I still follow my routine. After all, it is who I am. I will do things to the best of my ability.

Yet, there is something to say about also embracing the unprepared–those minor hiccups. There are some glitches in a training, I adapt. They don’t have a certain ingredient at the grocery store, there might be another ingredient. My mail does not come in on time, I can live with that. I feel unprepared, but life goes on and I’m still breathing.

Put it into perspective.

During these times, I am finding educators having sleepless nights, turning to bad habits, blaming themselves, etc. Why? Because they don’t feel prepared. They are unprepared. Yet, my question to you is…who is prepared right now?

It is okay to feel unprepared. Take a deep breath and reread that again..It is okay to feel unprepared. Revisit: put it into perspective.

If you show up every day for your kiddos, your friends, your family; if you do your daily routines as best as you can; if, at the end of the day, you find something that you are thankful for and you can rest at night with a smile on your face, I would say you are doing pretty darn well.

Like I said before, give yourself permission. Give yourself grace. Practice forgiveness. Let go of perfection. Instead of making plans A-Z, embrace the moments of unpreparedness. Those small moments just might surprise you, because it is in these moments, where you will grow the most. It is in the uncomfort (I may have just made that word up…), in the unpreparedness, that you will innovate, stretch your imagination and find a way.

You will make it happen! How do I know? Because…you know it…you are a Tiebreaker! Embrace the unprepared and rock it like you are.