I had plans for this week. I was going to sit down and write several blog posts, get myself ahead again, and finally have a few Fridays scheduled so I wasn’t scrambling at the last minute.

That was the plan, anyway.

My migraine apparently had other plans.

Instead of writing and checking things off my list, much of this week was spent dealing with a migraine that just would not let go. Even when I started feeling a little better, doing something as simple as taking a shower, getting dressed, or walking outside seemed to remind my head that it wasn’t quite finished with me yet.

And I was frustrated.

Not only because I felt awful, but because I could see everything I wanted to be doing. I had things I wanted to write. Things around the house I wanted to get done. Things I wanted to work on. I had an entire week in my head that looked very different from the week I actually got.

You would think after all these years of living with health problems, I would be better at this by now. I should know that sometimes my body is going to change the plans without asking permission.

But knowing that and accepting it are two very different things.

I think a lot of us struggle with that, even if chronic illness isn’t part of our lives. Maybe for you it isn’t a migraine. Maybe it’s a sick child, a family member who needs you, grief that sneaks up on you, exhaustion you can’t shake, an unexpected problem at work, or simply one of those weeks when life seems determined to derail every plan you make.

We are so quick to look at everything we didn’t accomplish.

I didn’t get those blog posts written. I didn’t get ahead like I planned. Friday came, and I suddenly realized I didn’t even have a post scheduled for today. My first reaction was frustration with myself because I had specifically planned to prevent this exact thing from happening.

Then I had to remind myself why it happened.

I wasn’t procrastinating. I wasn’t being lazy. I wasn’t wasting my week. I was sick.

There is a difference.

For someone like me, who has always been much better at pushing through than slowing down, that can still be a difficult thing to accept. I have spent so much of my life getting back up, figuring things out, adjusting, and moving forward that stopping can sometimes feel like I’m doing something wrong.

But sometimes stopping is moving forward.

Sometimes the body needs more from us than our schedule does.

And maybe that’s the reminder I needed this week. A changed plan isn’t necessarily a failed plan. Sometimes life changes, our bodies change, circumstances change, and we have to change right along with them.

So this post is going up later than I planned. It’s shorter than I planned. My entire week looked nothing like I planned.

And that’s okay.

I’m still here. I’m still writing. The things I didn’t finish this week will still be there when I’m ready for them.

Maybe there is something on your own list right now that you haven’t gotten done. Maybe you’ve been beating yourself up over something you thought you should have accomplished by now. Before you decide you failed, stop for a minute and think about what you’ve actually been carrying.

Sometimes we need to give ourselves the same understanding we would so easily give someone else.

Life doesn’t always follow the schedule we make for it.

Apparently, neither do migraines.

And this week, I’m learning to be okay with that.