Now I admit it, I focus on the future a lot and most often plan out every detail, sometimes to a fault so much so that I find myself worried about everything that may interfere with my plans.
That was very evident on the trip we took this fall to Europe. Since it was our first trip overseas there were so many unknowns so I really overdid it with planning and especially the worrying.
I worried about how we would handle the 9+ hour flight to Rome overnight – would we be able to sleep, would we be hungry, would we be comfortable enough? Would we be jet lagged for the first few days or our trip?
I worried about whether we would find our hotel OK, would we be able to communicate well enough, would we feel unsafe in certain areas?
All of these worries were unfounded. We slept 5 hours on the plane and had no jet lag at all until after we returned home. We had more than enough food for our ride. We found our hotel easily and communicated very well with the few Italian words we knew since most people we encountered spoke some English.
Yes planning did help here by wearing comfortable clothing, bringing protein bars and sleep aids, learning a few words of the language and mapping our route to the hotel – but the worry did not need to be there.
Did anything unforeseen occur during our trip, absolutely. We could not find the train platform to Florence and finally did minutes before the train departed! We also both caught colds a few days into our cruise and had no cold remedies with us.
The moral of the story? I can plan as best I can based on what I believe I need to be safe and comfortable, but I don’t have to worry about it. And…I can’t plan for everything and can handle whatever comes our way that we didn’t expect!
When have you worried for no reason?