Importance of Planning

What exactly is planning and its link to mental illness/ wellness?

When a couple decide to get pregnant, they start planning on the process, and a lot goes into it such as finances and even looking at it from an angle of will they actually have time to raise this child.

When a mother gets pregnant, she starts to imagine what sort of child she is going to have, if it’s a girl how they will spend most of the time doing “girly” stuff and for the father, if it’s a boy how he will now have a companion in doing guy stuff. Also a lot of planning goes into the living circumstances, and even which school this child will go to.

Once the child is born, their life has already been put in planning up until they are 18, they do not have to worry about what’s the next move. why? Because all they have to worry about is getting good grades and getting into the school of their choice. So pretty much their life has already been mapped out by the parents. However, we find that after school is over, comes the question of, “what next?”

Recently, I had a chat with a friend and she was due for graduation from university, and the fear of unknown had started to sink in.

She had come to the realization that life was about to get real, that all through she had just one main goal, go to school get good grades and graduate. This was simple for her because there was structure and the environment was conducive to enable her to do this.

Fear of the Unknown

However now she was getting into life, things are not structured for you and hence she started experiencing fear of the unknown.

This feeling is quite normal, we all experience a fear of the unknown, and if we are not able to manage it then this fear can lead to one developing a form of mental illness such as anxiety or depression.

Setting Goals

Hence the importance of planning, the importance of setting goals and working towards them. Because this will bring about structure and purpose to one’s life.

In this age of social media, the young generation get to see a lot and compare themselves to their peers. Leading one to feel dissatisfied with where they are in life. However, when you come up with goals and a plan on how you will achieve those goals in the end it brings about a feeling of satisfaction and purpose.

Start today , make a plan it is never too late.

Written by Rita Wairimu

Psychologist In-charge – Westlands Branch

Chiromo Hospital Group