We all hear it all the time, of course. You've gotta go with the flow, roll with the punches, take the good with the bad. I believe this is more important than most of us think.

Many of us make plans for everything, and even plan events in our minds before they happen. For example, if you are going to take someone out on your first date, you will probably think ahead of time what you're going to do that night, maybe even a few specific things to say. I plan like this a lot, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

The problems arise when you don't go with the flow. For example, you go out on this first date and things aren't going very well. So you panic and think "Dammit, why can't things ever go the right way?" You become distraught and the date goes downhill from there. You go home and wonder why it turned out so bad. Well, the only reason is it went bad is because you had a preconceived plan and the actual night didn't happen like you planned.

You have to realize that it's ok when things don't go according to plan! Nothing is ever going to go exactly the way you want it to. You must learn to improvise. Don't ever say "Well we were going to do this but so-and-so backed out!" Instead, say, "So-and-so backed out, so what can we do now?" Concentrate on the present, not the past. Go with the flow and adapt to the situation as it changes. In short, just don't freak out.

Improvising is extremely important. If you can't learn to give up your well-laid plans and learn to adapt to situations quickly, you are going to go insane. Trust me, I've seen it before. Just take a chill pill and go with the flow.