I’ve got hair on my head, but hair isn’t guaranteed for anyone at any age. At some point, maybe tomorrow, maybe in a few years, it could all fall out. Or enough of it could fall out that it may as well have been all of it.

I decided a long time ago that if I start visibly losing my hair—if I develop a bald spot or achieve some kind of hair halo situation—I’ll just shave the rest off. This isn’t ideal, as I suspect I have an odd-shaped head, and because my pale pate will definitely get sunburned. But that’s where I’m at right now with that specific potentiality; it could happen whenever, but I have a plan if and when it does.

I have all sorts of little strategies and plans of attack ready for these sorts of matters. Some of them relate to money, some to relationships or living situations or my day-to-day. Some, like my just-shave-it plan, are tied to whatever nonsense my body decides to throw at me next.

Planning and actually adhering to said plans are two very different creatures, but it feels good to have something ready, regardless. Even if I deviate from my intentions when the trigger-event occurs, at least I’m not stressing about that event every day in the meantime. I can think hard about something difficult for a while, jot down some ideas, make a decision, and then move on with my life.

This sort of planning can sometimes lead to better outcomes, too, if approached the right way.

I started practicing ballet and doing a bunch of other hip-, back-, and core-related exercises because one day I realized, hmm, it seems like a lot of people have issues related to these things as they get older, and wow, I’m getting older. Huh. Maybe I should mull that over for a while, make some plans, and in the process see if there might be something I can do about these sorts of problems ahead of time.

Fundamental to such planning, though—whether our plans remain just plans, or if they somehow become prophylactic—is recognizing the temporality of everything.

Our lives, our bodies, our brains, the people around us, the spaces we occupy; it could all change in a heartbeat.

If we can accept that everything is temporary and plan accordingly, we stand a better chance of enjoying what we have at any given moment, while also increasing our odds of staving off some of the worst-case possibilities before they have a chance to plague us.

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