Can you imagine what your life will be like in twenty years? Too far away? How about ten? Still too out of reach? O.k., five then. That seems a little more manageable but still lofty. How about one year?
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"What do you want to major in?"
"Where do you see yourself in ten years?"
These are all questions people asked me throughout grade school, high school, and college. The first question was the easiest question to answer at the time. People ask you that when you're a little kid, so of course you'll be able to answer. At that time I wanted to be a veterinarian. However, as the years went on and as I grew older, the future became mysterious. I had changed my mind about being a veterinarian. What did I want to be when I grew up? Well, I don't know. It was a hard question for me to answer. Then, in high school, I discovered that I had a real knack for music. I was in the top bands and top choir. So I chose to major in music, so that was also an easy question to answer.
But the last of those three questions up there was the hardest one of them all. How can anyone know where they're gonna be in ten years? It seemed impossible. Life is too unpredictable, right? I could decide to be one thing but then, halfway along the way, change my mind and decide to be something else. I can't predict that, can I? I can't predict that I'll change my mind, or can I?
But as I graduated from college with a major in music and minor in psychology (thinking I wanted to be a music therapist but, alas, changing my mind again), I realized I had no real path I could start walking. I didn't get a music education degree. I didn't want one. The problem was I didn't know what I wanted. I was still searching, but my time was up. I graduated from college and went back to work at a low paying retail store, hardly a place to use a music degree (unless I wanted to impress customers with my saxophone playing).
And here I am, years later, still struggling with the "ten year" question. Whenever people asked me that question I could never picture anything. It was like a grey fog. I realize now that I am where I am today because I did not have a clear picture of where I wanted to be. Don't get me wrong! I have a wonderful family and friends. I have a great husband who is a fantastic father to our beautiful six month old daughter. But sometimes I feel like I'm still stuck in no-man's land.
With this blog, I am going to break that cycle. New Years of 2013 was part inspiration for starting this blog. When New Year's eve was over I had a huge realization. A year had gone by, and I hadn't accomplished any of my goals! That goal to eat healthy and lose weight? Nope! That goal to start my own business and start bringing in income? Nada! That goal to get our finances under control and put substantial dents into our debt? Ha! I let a whole year go by. I told myself, "I'll do it tomorrow" 365 times. That's a whole lot of procrastination!
That realization has made me really want to challenge myself. I've been asking myself, "Where do I see myself in a year?" This blog will chronicle my year-long journey to steer my life in the direction I want it to go. I decided on a year's breadth for the obvious reason of signifying a year's time. Also, breadth sounds a lot like breath. A year can fly by so fast it's almost as if you only took one breath. By the time you breathed out, a year's time went by. So, if I only breathe once, shouldn't I make that one breath count? I need to breathe deeply, fill my lungs, and finally breathe out feeling refreshed.
I'm going to break down my goals into manageable pieces. I will also be using visualization to change my life. I will be posting the results of this and the resources that help me along the way so that others may find inspiration and help to change their own lives. Will you join me on this year long journey? Let's see what we can accomplish in a year's breadth.
