Improvisation as a way of life.

Roll with the punches, go with the flow, make it up as you go… People always say that you should stay flexible with your plans. Don’t be afraid to change things.

Never in my wildest dreams would I fully understand what it means to live a life of constant improvisation than when we had our first child.

Just over a month ago we welcomed our baby girl in to the world. From the get go it has been a situation where we think we can make a plan and that plan gets thrown out the window.

Oh you want to have a natural birth? Nope, sorry baby girl is breach you are having a c-section. Alright, lets roll with it we will handle it and everything is fine.

We have a nursery and a crib setup for the baby. Nope, she doesn’t want to sleep in there she will sleep in your arms instead. Ok, we can do this lets work out a plan where we rotate shifts through the night and someone will always be awake to take care of her. This has worked for the first month and it has been tiring but it works.

I have learned a great many lessons in this first month but the most important one of all is make a plan, but assume that the plan will go up in smoke as soon as it is started. Yes, making a plan will at least get people out the door but the first step after exiting that door everything will change. Making a plan will also allow to think out possibilities and contingencies, because believe it, those are going to become crucial. Then look for the path of least resistance and make like “a leaf on the window and see how I soar.”

It all seems like anecdotal advice but I firmly believe that the more flexible a person can be the easier time they will have. If I had not had the ability to just roll with things, then I can see much more stress and anxiety. Everything will work itself out eventually and it may not be according to plan. Thats ok, as long as the end result is safe and healthy then what does it matter that the path to get there was not one that could have even been foreseen from the beginning.

Children are certainly turning out to be the craziest learning on my feet boot camp anyone could ever go through. What worked today won’t work tomorrow and what soothed the baby 5 minutes ago has stopped working now.

“We’re going on an adventure!” Embrace the ride and keep your eyes open along the way because the sight and scenes that you will experience will stay with you for a lifetime. Take in all those little moments with your child and enjoy the smiles and stares they give you. It most certainly has been an adventure so far and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.

Improvisation as a way of life. was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.