The Strategy of No Strategy – At All

I’m a big believer in weighing my option objectively. This usually translates into some sort of Pros and Cons list. Not everyone in my household appreciates this approach. Jeff’s opinion is that I usually overthink things. Mine is that once I make a decision, there are no regrets. No recriminations. Just forward motion.

Quitting my job this year, and then ultimately spending the summer in Spain, required little to no Pro/Con list. There was so much upside, it would have been hard not to take the leap. But moving to Spain? Lock, stock and barrel? Well, that required a little more than a ‘Just do It!’ mentality, after way too many margaritas.

My Pro’s and Con’s were more practical and more emotionally satisfying:

Pros 

• I never, ever have to utter the word ‘Strategy’ again, if I don’t want to
• I don’t have to create ‘decks’ unless they’re on a boat in the Mediterranean
• No more Corporate training classes where we all learn how not to behave badly, like humans should already know how to do. If they’re humans
• I don’t have to pretend, in a meeting with Execs, that what the guy next to me just said didn’t come out of my mouth 30 min before, had been roundly rejected by the gathered assembly when I said it, but was now fully embraced as ‘Brilliant, Jeremy. Everyone – that’s exactly what we should do!’
• I can do yoga every day looking at the Sea
• I can drink wine at noon, like everyone else in the country where I’m living
• I can take a nap every afternoon 
• Seeing Europe on the weekends is totally doable
• Did I mention drinking wine at noon?

Cons

• I speak no Spanish – so I’ll sound like an ignorant fool for quite a long time
• I understand the system of bureaucracy – not a all
• Sand in my house will become one of my biggest problems
• Did I mention – I’ll be forced to drink wine everyday at noon?

OK ~ Perhaps my husband was right. I tend to overthink. When I got home from walking 800km on the Camino de Santiago, I said ‘Let’s move to Spain!’ One night a few days later, he rolled over before sleep and said ‘OK – Let’s move to Spain.’

No lists. No weighing considerations. Just jumping in with both feet. If I ever forget why I married this man, this is the kind of reminder I needed. My very own Reverse Christopher Columbus – ready to set out for the unknown.  As we begin this adventure of moving to the other side of the world, I’ll add that to the Pro’s column every time.