Planning for the Unknown

What do you do when you’re faced with the unknown? Do you jump in and see what happens? Do you sit back and quietly contemplate? Do you make lists of pro/cons?

I’m curious what influences our responses. Is it based on our personality and whether or not we’re introverts or extroverts? Is it based on whether we’re risk takers or risk adverse? Do our environment or our experiences play a part? Is it situational? Perhaps it’s all of the above.

I’m currently facing some big unknowns. Assuming things go according to plan, in less than three months I’ll become a mama for the second time, this time to a little girl. Everyone asks if my two-year-old son knows what’s going on. To some degree he seems to get it, but does he realize that a new baby is coming to stay and know what the impact of that will be? I doubt it, but my husband and I also don’t feel like we have any idea what it’ll be like. On one hand we have experience as we’re no longer first time parents, but we don’t know what it’ll be like to have two, or to have a girl, nor do we know how to pay for two children.

I’m both thrilled and terrified to find out what the reality will be like. My approach has surprised me a bit this time around. Instead of reading everything I can and planning every last detail as I did during my first pregnancy, this time I’m just taking it as it comes. Only in the last few weeks have I started to panic a bit and decide I ought to start planning and getting things prepared.

Another unknown I’m facing is taking on a new role at work. A month or two ago I was asked to be DFCI’s Training Lead for Epic. As many who are already involved with the project have discovered, there are a lot of questions and not a lot of answers just yet. It’s quite involved and will take time to figure things out. This made it challenging when deciding whether or not to accept the role. There were many great benefits, but many unknowns as well. Who would I report to? What will my role entail? Who’ll do my current job? Will the workload be manageable? Will I be able to do the job well with two little ones at home? 

Despite many unknowns in the upcoming months, I’ve decided to take the advice I’ve heard many times over the years: “you’ll figure it out”. This leads me to believe that I’m more of a risk taker than I give myself credit for (maybe I should have figured that out a few years ago when I went sky diving). I’m also banking on the feedback others share that “your regrets aren’t what you do, they are what you don’t do.” So, here goes nothing. I’m looking forward to seeing what the next year or two has in store for me. Any big unknowns coming your way? How are you planning for them?