Fiona's Blog: The Trouble With Planning
What’s more important than knowing how to make plans? Knowing how to abandon them. That’s what I learned a few days ago when my doctor told me I had mononucleosis.For those of you who don’t know what mononucleosis (“mono”) is, don’t be alarmed. I’m not going to die, grow any extra limbs, or be any different after the illness ends. Mono is just a virus that’s characterized by a fever, sore throat and extreme tiredness that happens to last a very long time—up to a few months. There’s no medicine for it, aside from hydrating and sleeping a lot, so basically once you get mono, the only thing to do is wait it out.
Waiting mono out might not seem that bad—especially when there’s Mad Men on instant Netflix -- but waiting it out was not on my agenda for this fall. I was not planning on having to wait anything out, aside from maybe my college acceptances and rejections after I sent in my apps. In fact, my schedule for this fall was so carefully planned and jam-packed with activities, that any free time certainly wouldn’t have been spent waiting anything out.
Going into my first semester as a senior in high school, I had a lot to look forward to: student-body president, peer-leadership (our school’s mentorship program), the soccer team, the newspaper, the debate club. Leadership positions and clubs I’d been waiting to be a part of since freshmen year were finally open to me! Not to mention the general awesomeness of being a senior (senior privileges, the opportunity to yell “Seniors!” obnoxiously at school events, and knowing that you seem infinitely cool to underclassmen…or at least thinking you do). I was ready for all of it…the fun, the work, the responsibility. Honestly, I was just waiting for them to blow the whistle and say the school year sprint had started.Unfortunately, before I heard “ready, set, go,” a huge vehicle barreled out of nowhere and knocked me off my feet. A huge, snot-covered, coughing vehicle bearing gifts like a fever and a weird rash on my right arm (why is it still so itchy after two weeks!!!???).So instead of leading my teammates in soccer drills, going on the 9th grade camping trip as a peer leader, and exercising senior privileges like riding the elevator (and kicking underclassmen off it), I’ve been lying in bed drinking fluids and napping every few hours. My greatest accomplishments are going 24 hours without fever and getting up the strength to wash my hair. But I’m managing. I’m keeping up with my work, I’m setting up skyping with some of my teachers, I’m “managing” the girls soccer team from my sickbed, and I’m learning to roll with the punches.Just because I can’t do physical activity for fear of bursting my spleen doesn’t mean I’ve lost the fire in my belly! And I’m learning a really important lesson: No matter how much you plan, no matter how much you prepare, no matter how ready you think you are, you’ll never be ready for everything, and sometimes you’ve just gotta let it go and enjoy the instant Netflix. After all, when else was I going to catch up on Mad Men?Fiona Lowenstein is a high school senior, weekly guest blogger and Girls Leadership Institute alumna. Read more of her work here.