I really appreciate people who make me think. On a second scouting trip to Oregon a couple weeks ago, a friend with whom we were staying, Maria, asked me, “If the B&B doesn’t work out, do you have a Plan B?” My immediate response was “No.”
In bed that night, I started to think more about it and wondered “Should I have a Plan B?” The more I considered it, the more I knew my initial response was the right one. There was no hesitation in my answer; it came from my gut, so I knew it was true. The truth is I’ve gone through most of my life without having a Plan B.
I remembered when I graduated from college and pursued a career in magazine publishing. Specifically, I wanted to work for a regional magazine because I wanted to live some place other than California, which is where I had lived my entire life. I turned over every possible stone along the path to being a magazine editor. It was 1990 and jobs were hard to come by, even more so in the typically tight and competitive publishing industry.
I didn’t have a Plan B. I just kept at it, pursuing every possible lead and reaching out to every conceivable regional magazine. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself. It wasn’t the job I had envisioned. It was a part-time copy editing job for a technology publication 20 minutes from my parents’ house. This job could not have been less what I was looking for, but it ended up being the best thing that happened to me. It started a career that lasted more than a decade (and later on morphed into a second career) and introduced me to some amazing people whom I have had the pleasure of working with again over the years and many of whom I consider friends.
I didn’t need a Plan B then; the Universe presented one to me. If the B&B thing doesn’t work out as imagined, I know a Plan B will present itself. I have faith.
Maria also asked another apt and pointed question: “What about this [finding and owning a B&B] do you find daunting?” Our response, without hesitation again and in unison: “All of it.”
There is a lot of uncertainty about this endeavor. It can get overwhelming if I let myself dwell on the enormity of the undertaking. Because worry only breeds fear, fear breeds doubt, and doubt will inevitably lead me to start making a Plan B.
When I feel worry, fear, and doubt start to settle in, I remember these words I read once upon a time:
Move towards love
So long as I am moving towards that which I love, the B&B, I will inevitably end up where I am supposed to be.