Winging It!

by Carrie Pålsson

Winging It! The phrase conjures up images of adventurous souls jumping out of airplanes, rafting down wild rivers and giving speeches without note cards.

To be honest, I'm not a real "winging it" kind of gal. I like a plan, a schedule and plenty of index cards.

When the staff of Mosaic Minds chose "Winging It" as a theme I went into a kind of numb panic. What could I possibly write about? The time I let the gas gauge drop below a quarter of a tank? Or maybe the time I hit snooze two times one morning and was only five minutes early to work instead of my customary ten?

I'm just a big yawn-fest, aren't I?

I was moping around, battling my writer's block and explaining to my mom that I couldn't possibly help weed her garden because I needed to think about some way of making my life sound full of unplanned adventure. She looked a little surprised.

"But you're the most adventurous person I know," she exclaimed.

Me? Adventurous? Surely she had the wrong daughter. I had a plan for everything.

"You went off to college without knowing a soul, in a town 2000 miles away from home. You took a job on the other side of the state, again without a friend in sight. Then you moved to Sweden to be with a guy you met on the Internet!" She listed my series of "winging it" moments to my confused self.

I did all those things, true, but not for adventure's sake. College and my first job were far away for one simple reason--I was running away from home. My last big move was just the opposite. I was running to my soul's home.

None of these moves was made on the spur of the moment. Everything was carefully planned and calculated. I knew I'd have a roof over my head and food in my belly. It wasn't like I jumped on a plane with only a backpack and a nebulous plan to hike through the African jungles for a year. Now that's winging it.

But then I got to thinking about the people I admire who "wing it" on a regular basis, whether in their work or their personal lives. All of them have a plan. It may be a crazy plan, but it's still a plan. They've weighed the risks and found them acceptable. They have back-ups. They have support.

The difference between these people and most other people? After exploring the risks they decide to take the plunge and do whatever it is they feel they need to do. Just like me.

So maybe, just maybe, I am adventurous. I will never jump out of an airplane, but I will move to a new country sight unseen. I always like to have a full tank of gas, but I will take off down an unknown road to explore the countryside. I want a well-stocked kitchen, but I will throw in spices the recipe doesn't call for.

This issue is loaded with stories of living life by the seat of your pants. Whether you're an intrepid "winger" or a more cautious sort, I'm sure you'll find something to identify with here.