It’s okay to change course
As usual, I have waited until the last day of the month to write this blog post, because I am a champion of procrastination who has not fully learned how to prioritize. All day, while going about my other obligations, I have been plotting and outlining this blog post. I intended to write about the importance of continued learning for personal growth and fulfillment. But, as you can infer from the title of this post, that is not what I will be writing about. Somewhere near the end of the day, I allowed myself to be still, and in that moment every emotion I have been holding in rushed forward all at once. And I knew that the quest for new knowledge was no longer a viable blog post topic for today. Perhaps some other month I can revisit that idea, because I really do love to learn new things. But today, I have to change course. And that is okay.
It no longer feels authentic to write about learning due to the emotional episode I had today. So, here I am, at the absolute last possible hour, changing the entire plan. And sometimes we need to do just that. We know when something is no longer working. When we no longer enjoy it or it is not good for us. But how often are we brave enough to change our direction? Or do we hold on, thinking we need to stick to the plan for some unknown reason?
I have changed course dramatically in the past year. As many of my readers may know, I quit a career in teaching to pursue this publishing company. So changing the topic of a blog post is no big deal. And maybe we should all be more open to the idea of changing our direction from time to time. And not just in our careers or other life decisions. But in our writing.
Think about it. You have your story. You’ve done your outline. You know exactly what is supposed to happen. But it just isn’t working. Do you stick with it? Do you force a storyline that you are no longer convinced is right? Do you risk allowing your reader to be unsatisfied with the story because they can tell you weren’t fully invested? Or do you change course?
It’s okay to change course.
