I wrote a post a while back about the butterfly effect and how sometimes small life events can have significant causal effects on so many aspects of our life. The main objective was certainly not to dwell on the past but to reflect on those possible “what ifs” of life and how they have lead us to where we are today. It is one of my favorite stop and make you think pieces.
I was going through a box the other day (yes I am still in boxes from my move), I came across a paper I had to write for part of my portfolio for my undergraduate Nursing degree. It was a “Where I Would Be in 10 Years” assignment. I stopped. Wait. I graduated Nursing school in 2006, we are almost there. Everything I had predicted was true, minus the fact I wasn’t accepting my Doctoral degree and curing childhood obesity. I do have my Master’s done and making strides towards the cause! I am a professor at the local college, just not the Dean like I had predicted….lofty thinking who can take over a college at 31? In any event, it was such an eye opening experience reading that “time capsule” piece if you will.
So when I was asked by Clinique to write a letter to my future self, it couldn’t have been better timing. Clinique’s newest campaign is #FaceForward. It is all about making a promise to the future. Putting it out there. Setting those life goals and going after them. I thought 5 years would be a good timeframe to be giving advice to this theoretical self of mine.
Where Do I Think I Will Be or Doing In 5 Years?
I most likely will still be living in Florida. Let’s be honest, I have lived all up and down the East Coast and FL now feels like home. I am proud of my Boston roots and upbringing but I do not miss those Winters!
Possibly a little person on the horizon? Mark and I do want children. He is older than me and wants them like yesterday. I still enjoy my sleep and a glass of wine but I’m open to whatever life hands me. In 5 years I have a feeling that will be fulfilled, God willing. I know getting pregnant does not happen over night for most so I am going with the flow and not trying to worry too much about it now.
Will be on my way to getting that Doctorate. If I want to continue teaching at the University as a faculty member there are only so many times I can run to the bathroom or take an important call when the Dean starts asking me when I am getting my application together for the Doctoral program. There just aren’t enough hours in the day! Which leads me to…..
Going to part time so I can pursue this blog more full time. I have so many ideas and visions for this blog of mine. Even at this given time I have 25 unfinished posts sitting in my draft folder. How to grow your blog, tons of design tutorials, fashion spreads that look like they should be in a magazine, recipes, etc etc. What is preventing me from getting them all finished is two things. One, I’m completely Type A and OCD. So if it isn’t perfect, complete and makes sense to where the flow of the blog is for that week, then it doesn’t see the light of day. Two, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. I have been trying to catch up on the weekends but like hey, isn’t that when you are supposed to relax and have fun?
My full time job has been a little trying lately especially with the direction that healthcare is taking. Less reimbursement from insurance companies, which means you have to see that many more patients in a day and use resources that take more time (aka electronic charting…..the bane of my existence). Everyone is stretched so thin and so much of it falls on me. It is hard to critically think all day, leave and teach a barre class, grade papers and then have enough creative energy for the blog. So my goals over the next few years is to be able to cut down on those hours so I can shift my creative energy here. Fingers crossed.
[bctt tweet=”Where do you predict you will be in 5 years? Tell me your thoughts!”]
As I sit down to write this, I am realizing my main goals are what they have been for the past 10 years. My career. You know I don’t go there that often but I do feel like there is an overall plan for all of us. The more we try to push and influence that plan……something happens that lets us know we have a say but there is a bigger picture. I have a feeling that life is going to change and evolve over the next few years and it may be something like starting a family that shifts my goals away from the go go go, bigger, better and more. To the shift of focusing on something and somebody else. Slowing down, cutting back and reevaluating. You can only be so overly scheduled for so long till the seams come apart.
So for right now, I am going to continue trying to do it all and be it all. I am having a blast and loving the ride. I can’t wait to look back in 5 years and read this post and see if my “predictions” were as spot on as they were almost 10 years ago!
What are your thoughts? Do you sometimes think about where you will be in the next few years? Do you have any major life changes on the horizon that have been on your mind? Tell me where you think you will be in 5 years! The @Clinique #FaceForward campaign couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m putting my goals out there and not it’s time to make strides towards them. I hope to be still growing all these beautiful friends and connections over that time for sure! xoxoxoxo
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Great post girl! It’s awesome that the goals you set for yourself back in 2006 you have either already met or are making progress on! That is so impressive! And going with the flow huh? ;) I never know whether that means you’re playing defense or offense! Happy Thursday!
<3, Pamela
Sequins & Sea Breezes
Gary always says a dream is just a goal without a deadline :) Hopefully our little babes will be born at the same time and they can be besties LOL! I’m crossing my fingers that you are able to take this blog as far as it can go :) xo, Biana –BlovedBoston
i wish i had more hours in the day to grow my blog. i have so many ideas and no time to execute them like i want! i know my life now is not like i’d imagined 10 years ago, haha. But sometimes surprises in life can be the best.
Loved this post! How awesome that you’re basically where you thought you’d be 10 years ago! I know how you feel about being frustrated with healthcare–thats how I feel about the education system. Flaws all over the place and fewer and fewer resources to work with, while adding more and more demands. I’ve had the same feelings that you’ve had. I hope that whenever you and Mark decide to start making babies, that it happens fast so you can enjoy those little nuggets and get to see Mark in that new role!
Thanks for sharing this post–its fun to think about what life will be like in the future :)
My high school teacher made us write a letter to our future self and it was so much fun to read a few years ago. I remember all I wanted to be was happy and content with life. I think it’s smart you are continuing being career driven while that’s what you want and then allowing time for family later on. Must be why we get a long so well, babies in the future please, just heavens not right now!
Fun post! I always love going back and reading these years later.
This is awesome! It’s so fun that you found that old paper of where you predicted you would be now. I bet it was really cool to see how far you have come and how much you have accomplished. I’ve definitely been thinking and talking about the next 5-10 years a lot lately since I’m getting married. I should take them time to write it all down!
I think I wrote a letter to myself in 2006 or 2007 and it was an email that I’ll receive in the next two years. I remember mentioning a lot of names and wondering how those people were still in my life if they were in my life at all. It’s crazy to think about where I was and what I thought would happen. I’ve never really had lofty goals and where I thought I would be in high school to now has certainly changed, for the better in most cases. I agree there just aren’t enough hours in the day! Great reflection and looking forward post!
I love that your 2006 letter was almost dead-on, save the Dean bit and such. Minor details, because you are def one successful, driven lady. :)
In 5 years… I’ll be independently wealthy, doing some blogging + content strategy on the side, and living in a house full of rat terriers and expensive shoes? Haha. ;)
-Ashley
Le Stylo Rouge
What you have accomplished so far in your life is very impressive! You will continue to do great things in the next 5 years, and you will make a wonderful mother some day. :-) In 5 years I will be 40, but at least I’ll still be younger than Chris! Haha. In 5 years I just want to be happy, not worry, and trust in God’s plan for me. :-)
ah i love this post. you have so many cool things that lie ahead for you – so exciting! i have no idea where i’ll be in 5 but i actually love not knowing. i’m not a planner and i’m a day by day person :) ok maybe i have some goals and such but i’m too much of a dreamer for too much of that :) xo
cheshirekatblog.com
You are such a motivated woman! I’ve never met anyone who has aspired to be a Dean! I’ve always wondered how you do it all but I’m seeing that really is just your personality!
Oh, I loved this post! I feel like we got to see more of you, Amanda!
I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want to be in 5 years. I have a plan, but that doesn’t always work, does it?
I didn’t realize you taught at a university — I do too! And we’re on opposite ends of the medical spectrum. You teach human medicine and I teach vet med! So fun.
Great post. I don’t often think 5-10 years into the future, but know it can be helpful for planning. Hopefully in five years I’m owning my own business and have more flexibility with my week. I’m ready to make my own schedule!
I love this post. I have a really hard time thinking ahead / imagining the future. When I find myself in the same type of overwhelming situation that you are feeling, I try and think about how I can make life more sustainable, more fulfilling, and less draining with all the work – and I can’t even imagine it. Maybe its because I actually do love all the things that I’m doing and I can’t imagine cutting back on something that I’ve already worked so hard to achieve… but either way, I have a hard time imagining 5 years from now. I think I’ll try and take some time to do just that though.
Such a great post! I really am not sure where I’ll be in 5 years, I have no idea if we’ll be living in the same place or if I’ll be working or what – it’s kind of exciting! And I had to laugh out loud about Mark wanting kids like yesterday because that is so Nick, too. I’m the one dragging my feet!!
This is a fun idea for a post! I would love to go part time to pursue blogging full time. Talk about a dream come true!
http://www.amemoryofus.com
Get it, girl! Considering how well your first round of goals went, I think you’ll see that Doctorate sooner rather than later. If I had any advice for my future self, it would be to stay open to new things and opportunities. I spent the first ten(ish) years of adulthood trying to make everything in my life follow my grand plan. While lots of things did work out how I saw them happening, there are so many wonderful things in my life that I never would have imagined for myself in my early teen years.
I love your goals :) They’re all achievable and great! I vote you work more on the blog ;) I can’t imagine working in your industry right now… my doctor is always venting to me about it and I think of the amount of time I spend being upset about it just as a consumer!
I love this idea! What a fun campaign! Hopefully in 5 years Josh and I own a house, I’m pregnant, and am blogging full time!
Her Heartland Soul
http://herheartlandsoul.com
I always find it funny when I think back to life in high school and college and where I thought I would be at 25, 30, etc. Of course, I am not at all I expected to be, and that is ok. It is laughable to think that I thought I had it all figured out!!! You are one busy, busy girl! I don’t know how you keep up with basically three jobs and blogging but you do it with grace and I have mad respect for that. Chris and I had some future discussion talk a few weeks ago and I am excited to see where that takes us. :) Cheers to the future. May it be everything we dream of and more. Probably more!!
Love this post! I am currently really thinking about the future but I tend to forget how to think about it in the right tems. If that makes any sense!! It’s so important to think about the bigger picture and WHO really is important to you!
This is so great!! I have always been type A, want to accomplish everything type. But now that I’m married and wanting kids in the semi-near future, I am already thinking about part-time jobs and regaining a balance that has been absent in my life for so so long. And omg please have a babe! A mini-Amanda… I die!
I absolutely LOVE this post – I may have to steal the prompt for myself at a later date. Girl, it sounds like you were right on track with your 10-year predictions, so I’m sure that you will be the same with these! I agree with you – there definitely is a bigger plan that we aren’t always aware of. I’m such a firm believer in that (I don’t like to always go there either), but so much has happened to me career-wise in the past couple years that I finally had to give it up and just go with the flow. And, you know what? I’m the happiest that I’ve ever been! I can’t wait to see you eventually be a mom – I think you’ll be amazing in that role!
What a cool idea! Way to go for being on track to your goals and dreams! A lot of things in my life are not at all how I pictured them 10 years ago but I’m learning to roll with it, lol!
I love the “I am going to continue trying to do it all and be it all” – basically me in a nutshell and I love love love that you feel this way too!
Love this post!! I am no where close to where I thought i would be a few years ago, but that is ok. In 5 years, I hope to have opened my own yoga studio + have a baby or two!
Nikki
thefashionablewife.com
i hope all of your predictions come true! you will totally be Dean one day. and you and Mark would make some adorable babies, so get on that! lol ;)
But Amanda, Obamacare is the best thing to happen to the U.S! Unless you work in healthcare. Or your spouse works in healthcare and you want to see them for more then 30 mins a day. Or you already had employer-sponsored insurance. Or you’re are middle-class or above. Or want an appt with any specialist within the foreseeable future. I could keep going, but I’ll get too political and everyone knows that’s a blogging FAIL. So anyway, cute post! All I have to say is, watch out. You think those babies will take a while to get makin’ in you, but if you’re like me, you think the word baby and become pregnant. It’s a MEGA life change but my gosh is it the best ever!
I see nothing wrong with a lofty goal like being a Dean at 31…why not? When I was 10 I said I wanted to be President of US. I realized in college I didn’t have the stomach for politics but I still think I have become a leader in my own right. At 53 I can honestly say that I am looking at a completely different life than you are in the next 10 years. I’m past the child rearing years and could be a grandmother by 63 but I will let my kids decide when the right time to become parents will be for them. I am hoping to be traveling a lot more and if my husband has his way we’ll be spending at least a year in an RV…yeah, that would be quite the blog! Thanks for sharing via #TBB #FridayShareFest
Amanda this is a lovely, creative idea for a post! It is so different from what we typically see, and it does get you thinking. Thanks for sharing!
http://www.AmbitiouslyHealthy.com
I feel like I can completely relate to this post. I’m not happy at my job and unlike you, chose a finance degree because it seemed logical. Since I dread coming to work on a daily basis, I often dream of making my blog into something more. If I just had the time to devote to it, I think it could be something really good. But with a house, a husband, running a non-profit and working full time, there just isn’t enough time in the day. It’s a daily struggle for me because I want to know exactly what the next few years will hold but that’s just not how it works!
I thought I should send some lessons 20 years into the future to my 61 year old self. Today, I hope I would be smart enough to take some advice from my 61 year old self.