There Is Always a Plan B

One of the greatest sources of anxiety and despair is the feeling that there can only be one answer to major problems we face: one ideal job, one ideal lover, one ideal way of life... But we should consider the extent to which there is always, just below the surface, a Plan B available. Flexing our mental Plan B muscle hugely expands our sense of safety and spontaneity. Sign up to our new newsletter and get 10% off your first online order of a book, product or class: For gifts and more from The School of Life, visit our online shop: Our website has therapy, articles and products to help you lead a more fulfilled life: FURTHER READING You can read more on this and other subjects on our blog, here: “We grow up – inevitably – with a strong attachment to a plan A, that is, an idea of how our lives will go and what we need to do to achieve our particular set of well-defined goals. For example, we’ll do four years of law school, then move out west, buy a house and start a family. Or, we’ll go to medical school for 7 years, then go to another country and train in our speciality of interest and hope to retire by fifty. Or we’ll get married and raise two children with an emphasis on the outdoors and doing good in the world…” MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Visit us in person at our London HQ: Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: You can submit translations and transcripts on all of our videos here: Find out how more here: SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Natalia Ramas @natalia_ramas Title animation produced in collaboration with Vale Productions