Plan A life vs Plan B life
How to know if you’ve drifted into your backup life without realising it
Nothing wrong with having a plan B, a backup plan, or a safety net. I think it's a great idea.
But a lot of people end up living their plan B without consciously signing up for it, forgetting they had a plan A that wasn't this.
I've been there myself, so no judgement.
And of course plans change and evolve over time. Your plan B could even become your plan A, and vice versa.
But this is about your mindset and relationship to your life and whether you've really actively chosen the path you're on and the kind of life you're living.
Pause and check every now and again if you're living a plan A life or plan B life.
And if you find that you're actually living a plan B life, are you actively working to get back to living a plan A life?
Here are 7 ways to recognise what kind of life you’re living:
You feel like you’re “getting by” instead of growing
There’s a subtle difference between stability and stagnation. If you’re mostly just ticking boxes, it might be a sign you’ve defaulted into plan B.You’ve stopped daydreaming about what’s possible
When plan A was alive, you probably used to imagine new possibilities. If you can’t remember the last time you got excited about the future that wasn’t just about escaping your day to day, that’s worth noticing.You’re making choices mostly out of fear or obligation
Staying safe, avoiding risk, or living up to other people’s expectations as a default mode of being are classic signs you’re in plan B mode.You rationalise away your real desires
Saying things like “that’s unrealistic” or “I’ve missed my chance” or “I have to be practical at this point in my life” are plan B kind of statements.Your calendar feels full, but your heart feels empty
You’re busy, but not fulfilled. Life looks fine on paper, but inside it feels like something’s missing.You downplay your plan A dreams when talking to others
If you catch yourself brushing off your bigger ambitions as silly, childish, or impractical, you’ve probably parked plan A.You keep telling yourself you’ll ‘get back to it one day’
“One day” is the biggest lie you might tell yourself when you’re living plan B without realising it. If your dream is always deferred to a vague future, that’s a red flag that you have some idea of what plan A could be but you’re doing nothing to venture on the path of living it.
If you enjoyed being provoked into thinking about this and generally enjoy philosophical discourse, you might be interested in a non-commercial, community initiative I’ve started called ‘Philosophy Circle’. You can learn more about it here: https://philosophycircle.org.
P.S. I’ve been mindfully absent from Under My Turban for a little bit, but will be returning to more regular writing over the next few weeks. If you haven’t yet, I’d appreciate you sharing Under My Turban with your networks.