Where I See Myself In 10 Years

TGIF! Anyone else feeling like this week flew by? I’m going to go ahead and thank having Monday off for that one. All in favor of 4 day work weeks from now until forever say I…! We don’t have any big weekend plans and Dane starts some intensive military schooling on Sunday (I know – school on Sunday..boo!), so I think just a low key Friday night in and maybe a casual Saturday hike will be all we squeeze in, but I’m okay with that. I’m so excited to say that today marks the end of the first full week of my September blogging challenge! If you missed my blogging challenge announcement post, I’ve been feeling a little bit uninspired by blogging and social media and I wanted to bring it back to where it all began…little old me behind my keyboard tapping away. And so – that’s what is happening! I know there are “blog every day” challenges, but honestly – I don’t blog every day as it is, so committing to 30 days was intimidating for me. Instead, I put together 20 prompts that really inspired me and whipped up a list for when you can expect them here. Today’s prompt is where I see myself in 10 years and I’ll be honest – I think I was the most excited for this prompt out of any all week! It’s fun to think about where you see your life going, so if a peek inside my mental crystal ball is something that piques your interest today, stick around 🙂

Where I See Myself In 10 Years

In ten years, I will be knocking on 40 just like I’m knocking on 30 right now. Dane will be 43, Judy will be 14 and Bill will be 12. We will have been married 14 years and known each other for 17. It’s WILD for me to wrap my mind around, but given just how fast time seems to be moving, I don’t hesitate to feel like it will fly by.

If you had asked me 10 years ago what I thought my future would be like, I would never have told you that I’d be living in Hawaii, doing something other than working in sports or a major city-based PR firm or be happily married. I just wouldn’t. I was always the girl who was a total hopeless romantic, but perpetually single in college. I was super career oriented (NFL) and I really loved that fast-paced life. I think life has a funny way of giving you what you need, not always what you want (or think you need). When a sorority sister introduced me to Dane (Our Love Story), my world was forever changed for the better. I quickly realized that happiness in life is the only thing worth chasing. The rest of it was just frosting on an otherwise delicious cake.

So, where do I see myself 10 years from now? My biggest goal is to remain happy. In 2013, I blogged the following and it is still so, so relevant that I can’t help but share an excerpt (plus a set of throwback photos of us from 2013 for good measure)…

“This weekend, Dane and I were sitting in traffic around 7PM on Saturday with the windows down listening to James Taylor after a day of cooking out and snorkeling at the beach with our friends. Our skin was covered in dried saltwater and our bathing suits still clung to us beneath sandy beach cover-ups. We watched as the sun painted pinks, blues and yellows across the horizon and eventually set in our rear-view mirror. Normally I’d be complaining about my bathing suit sticking to me, wanting to take a shower and how hungry/hot/tired I was–but something about this night was so perfect.

But if I had to break it down:

PROFESSIONALLY

Did I ever envision myself as a full time writer and digital creative? Absolutely no, but all things considered – I really, really love where I am professionally. I have monitored my growth in this professional arena over the years, each year growing steadily. Since I’m my own boss and don’t really get a pay raise or bonus each year, it’s up to me to monitor myself, create goals, annual reviews, etc. My way of tracking progress is meeting goals (both monetary and skill-based) and creating new goals for the following year that raise the bar slightly. In ten years, I hope that bar is ten times higher than it is now! I also hope to have my book published, some high-level bylines I’m building my portfolio now to work toward and still genuinely enjoying my career as much as I am today. That said, if I’m not enjoying it in 3, 5, 7 or 10 years from now, I hope I have bowed out gracefully and found something that truly ignites my inner fire.

PERSONALLY

Whew, is this a loaded question or what? 10 years ago, I could not have confidently said that I would be married. I would have also probably told you that I didn’t see kids in my future. And while I don’t have some magical fortune telling capabilities, I can tell you that I’m excited for the next 10, because if they are half as thrilling and unpredictable (in a good way) as these past 10 – I am in for a real treat.

I hope that in ten years Dane and I are still traveling as often as possible, still laughing at each other’s jokes, still cooking dinner together, still dancing to Michael Buble’s Spotify channel in our living room, still counting down to every football season, still tagging each other in ridiculous social media memes (will social media still be a thing?!) and still loving each other as fiercely as we do today. I hope we still challenge one another to be better and reach higher, are still writing love letters every week to one another and just genuinely enjoying the crap out of our life together. And honestly – I hope we are sharing that with some kids. While this isn’t a pregnancy announcement of any sort, Dane and I are happily married, have enjoyed quite a few years of enjoying that solo-marriage-no-kids-life and would like to expand our family one day. Who knows when that day will come, but it’s pretty likely!

What else? Dane and I have both talked about adding more dogs to the mix (ideally on a property with a good bit of land), as well as investing in a vacation property abroad or by the ocean. I hope we are living closer to family and friends, growing together spiritually in our faith and growing together, but also personally, toward being the humans we want to be as we live our story. I hope I am able to volunteer more of my time and money to causes that are important to me and continue to try to find the good, even in some of the darkest moments. I also hope that over the next ten years I never lose sight of what is important in life – not things or chasing a paycheck, but to just look around and be utterly and completely content.

Cheers to the next 10 years, my friends! If you shared where you see yourself in 10 years, I’d love for you to link up below. If you didn’t share it in a post, I’d love a brief synopsis in the comments section! Come back Monday for a whole topic (September Blogging Prompts) and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!