Nevermind Your Plan

It’s said, the best laid plans often go awry. Well, this is a little tale about how the best intentions for blogging sometimes go out the window, literally.

We’ve been overly busy with the introduction of Maple Pro and I’ve been annoyed for not keeping up with posting. Whenever I schedule time for writing something comes up – a meeting, a call, a crazy family moment, something. By the time I come back around to it, I’m too tired or uninspired to write. This happens a lot.

Somewhere in this cycle I realized I needed a break, I mean REALLY needed one. Time to recharge so I could hit the keyboard brimming with energy and inspiration. But, there is a lot to do when you launch something new. I rationalized I could block the last two weeks of the year for a break. In other words, I scheduled recovery. Not for now, but for later.

Silly.

Recovery has to happen when its needed not when it’s convenient. Did you recover from chicken pox when you had them or two months later??

Still, with the plan for feeling better safely on my calendar I sat down to write a blog about wrapping up 2018. I pounded away at the keys, occasionally glancing out the window to process a thought. The early snow has melted, my side garden is covered in fallen leaves. It’s desolate and quiet out there. Until I noticed that it wasn’t.

Looking more closely, there was a deer lying down alongside the logs between the garden and the woods behind it. Then I realized there was another just a few feet away. And a third in the garden. Huh! After a few minutes my glances were getting longer, and I was mainly interested in what was happening out there.

Nope! Back to work. Blog woman, blog!

Only I snuck another peek and saw two more had joined. A bit farther back, but also napping in the sun as it was shining through the bare trees to the leafy floor. Must be comfy. Another paragraph, which I quickly realized was crap. Another glance. Another deer. This one I saw wander in, pick a spot and lay down for a snooze. Who knew deer snuggled up in a little ball just like my dogs do?

At this point I knew there would be no blog, that watching this woodland slumber party was all that I was going to accomplish, so I gave in. People who are informed about these things say time in nature is particularly recuperative. I can attest, that is true. I didn’t leave the house, but I was in nature.

Once I decided this was time spent usefully, the guilt of skipping the blog dissolved. While I watched them stretch and graze and doze I grasped, like many things on life’s journey, recuperation is not necessarily something I can control. If I’m not attentive enough to do it as needed eventually my body, mind or spirit will just invoke its will and there will be recovery, scheduled or not.

There were many interesting aspects to creating and launching Maple Pro. By far, the most enjoyable has been the amazing people I have met and the remarkable stories they have graciously shared with me about their own paths and growth. So often the theme is ‘it did not happen as intended but I did succeed’. I find this particularly comforting because when things don’t happen according to plan it’s easy to get wrapped up in the struggle and lose sight of the success. Knowing that others have gone through similar challenges, in their own unique way, and come through it to find new opportunities reminds me that we are not alone on our journey. The journey is ours alone, but we have support and the example of the people around us to guide and help us along.

In that spirit, we are going to share some of these amazing and hopefully relatable stories here in the Meet Maple Blog. Our guest bloggers will reveal their personal growth journeys and insights. We’re excited to have you hear their stories and find inspiration in them, not to mention time to appreciate your story as you move along your path. You could be the spark that motivates someone else, so why not share your story? Use the contact form and get in touch with us.

2019 is just about here. Let’s dedicate ourselves to investing in our well-being and our dreams. Let’s Grow!