I am a little bit of a CONTROL FREAK

Let me show you why…

Scenario: Your life is going good. Your house is clean. Your finances are in order. All of a sudden.. A huge opportunity drops into your lap (like your DREAM opportunity). BUT you have to move, take some financial risks and live completely differently than you have been. (Not to mention, your house won’t be clean for the next three months)

If this makes you excited & overwhelmed all at the same time… AND you already started planning out how that’s going to work in your head, you might be a control freak too!

I’m the kind of girl that has a 10 year plan and likes to keep it updated in a google drive spreadsheet.

A little background for this scenario: I’m currently in school for a Bachelors in Strategic Communications & Marketing, My husband is serving in the bishopric at a young single adults ward for our church and I have a small business I run out of our home. We’ve been super comfortable.. But definitely not living our best life.

All these things are part of the plan, right?

So you can imagine my feels when the scenario described above occurred in MY life. Here I am, having just set all my 2018 goals, excited for the upcoming year… you know all the plans. This was NOT part of them.

But after lots of discussion & prayer we knew that although it wasn’t my plan, this opportunity was God’s plan for us. We’re Moving to Phoenix, AZ!

(I’m already obsessing over the amount of cacti & succulents I’m going to possess)

I had a mini meltdown. I was Ecstatic. Terrified. Overwhelmed. My brain immediately went into planning mode.

-Financial aid for the upcoming school year was still up in the air.

-I had to somehow get into the rest of my general classes this semester for my associates to transfer.

-All my classes had to be online so that we could move in the middle of the school year.

-We have to find *affordable* housing in Arizona in the next 6 weeks.

-Not to mention, we had to find someone to take over our lease or end up paying $1500 more dollars for an uninhabited place.

Etc. etc. etc.

There’s a lot going on and a lot to consider… obviously, as with any move or big change in your life.

My inner control freak is losing her crap. FOR REAL.

But let me tell you, when you are on the right path, heaven showers down some miraculous blessings. All of those worries I listed earlier, have been dealt with or are in the process of figuring themselves out. Sometimes prayer is the most efficient way to get things done.

I’ve spent a lot of my life halfheartedly trusting that God will take care of things.. Even though HE ALWAYS DOES.

But, recently I have been noticing how God is slowly teaching me to roll with the punches and how His plan is ALWAYS always better.

Trusting in Him helps us to drop all the cares of the world and just let it happen. I’m not saying that we should just stand by and watch our life unfold or just be the victim of our own circumstances. No, we need to include our Heavenly Father in a more intimate way with our life plans and TRUST HIM.

Why the heck don’t we trust the all powerful, all knowing being in our lives? What kind of ridiculous notion is that?

I know for me, as a control freak I tend to like things my way… I have a plan and that’s how things should always work. If and When things don’t fall perfectly into place within that plan, I tend to shut down and panic. (I’m working on it)

So here are 5 Things I do to chill my inner control freak:

• Pray

This is probably THE most important & helpful thing you could possibly do when you’re panicking is stop, drop and PRAY. Talking with heaven always helps me keep eternal perspective, which is the best kind of perspective to have when you feel like you might be losing control.

• Brain dump

I keep a notebook just for this purpose. I find writing it all out to be very helpful, even if it’s just a word cloud or a pros and cons list. Get all the ideas and plans out on paper and THEN organize.

If you haven’t ever done a  brain dump, here’s an article that I found helpful:

https://www.simplyconvivial.com/2014/tips-better-brain-dump/

• Lists

I love love love todo lists! I even make to do lists for different sections of my life.  For example: a house to do list, a school work to do list and a business to do list. It helps me keep track of all the sections of my life and what needs to get done. PLUS it’s very fun to check things off lists.

• Small goals

I am a FAN of productivity. Its low key my crack cocaine… but when I’m not productive or if I feel I haven’t “made it” that day, I get really down on myself. Like I said, it’s a drug. SO I’ve worked on it and found that setting small goals for myself on the daily and making sure they’re small enough to accomplish in 24 hours really helps my self esteem!

• Visualize & Let go

I know visualizing may sound a little crazy but, our minds are AMAZING. Visualizing what you want in life helps you to get the energy you need to get there & visualizing helps you release your intense need for total control. Visualize what you want and then release it into the world!

Here’s a fabulous article about it:

http://jackcanfield.com/blog/visualize-and-affirm-your-desired-outcomes-a-step-by-step-guide/

Here’s a cute little info graphic to help you keep track:

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The biggest thing is that we trust God… through all the thick & all the thin. We must trust Him through all the dark places, believing with all our hearts that He will show us the light at the end.

I’ve been learning this over and over again this month. Heavenly Father has been lovingly guiding me through the wreckage of my own plans to show my HIS, which is so much better than I could have ever imagined.

How do YOU deal with your inner control freak?

I want to know what tips & tricks you use!

Leave them in the comments below 🙂

P.S. Here’s a FABULOUS planner to help you balance all the things!

http://a.co/55QdBYd