Let's take financial planning, or more specifically, my own experience with financial planning. I've watched my advisor spin numbers like cotton candy, fill in charts, pro-rate the future, and lo and behold! The Plan.
Until, of course, everything changes, the plan goes to shit, and it's time for - you'll never guess - another plan.
I'd like to substitute a different word for PLAN. My preferred word is FANTASY. And I don't mean that derisively. On the contrary, I can cuddle up to a fantasy in a heartbeat. For me, a fantasy is a more creative frame for thinking up possibilities without the illusion of omnipotence and the burden of expectation that seem at the very heart of A Plan.
I had the most wonderful fantasy. It was called The Heart of Barkness. It was a way to capitalize on one of the world's most undervalued natural resources: Dogs. I imagined taking the best and brightest off the streets and out of shelters, training them to be outstanding companions, and creating a niche market that would pay for pret a porter canines and enjoy "doing good" at the same time.
My test market would be the gringo community in Latin America, specifically Cuenca, Ecuador. I already knew wonderful Cuencanos and was well aware Cuenca's expat community was exploding. So I went. I found an amazing animal-friendly place to live, I chose my first dog, Filipo, I put up the H.O.B. website, I created a local animal advocacy group and I began marketing.
Four months later, mas o menos, I now have two Barkness dogs. Despite my best efforts, the delightful, loving Filipo (foreground) is still with me, and I'm getting too attached to the other rescue, Milo (background) to let him go. We have history, that's for sure, after I scooped the little puppy up off the road minutes after he'd been run over by a taxi. Being a puppy, I'm happy to report, he is also well-healed.
Four months later, I've learned that here, as elsewhere, people will not pay for dogs unless they're breeds, and more specifically, breed puppies. I've also learned that the majority of Cuenca's expats are anathema to any sort of responsibility - human, canine, you name it - that may lay claim to their celebrated free time.
Goodbye financial underpinnings to the Heart of Barkness.
Arguably, four short months are not enough to pursue any fantasy, particularly one that involves long-haul issues such as animal welfare, humane education and adoption. I get that part in spades. Getting a (good) reputation, becoming part of several disparate communities (local and expat), getting to know who's who, building alliances, well hell, that ain't gonna happen overnight.
Networking within the animal welfare world at large, beyond Cuenca, beyond Ecuador, and into the huge world of overseas animal rescue? A lifelong commitment. It's a world where you've got to earn your wings. I don't even qualify for diletante flight status after my mere months in the field.
Entonces, having sworn off Plans, it's now time to re-evaluate my Fantasies. Are they still intact, do they just need tweaking or have they had enough of the crap kicked out of them to fly away? I don't know. At least not this morning. But it's an easy enough conundrum to consider as long as I don't have to plan my way through to the answer. Therein lies madness and inevitable disappointment. The great strength of one's fantasies is that they don't depend on an outcome. They simply cannot fail.
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