5 & 10 Year Plan (From My 15 Year Old Self)

As we pack up our belongings and prepare for our move, we come across old things we haven't seen in years. Recently, I found a journal I had when I went to Student Dynamics (SD). SD is a youth group I attended at New West Christian Reformed Church from Grade 8-12. It's divided up by grades, and each group has one or two leaders. As our group developed and grew, so did our conversations. Some of the girls in my group have continued to be my close friends long after SD ended. Our leaders, Natalia and Alida, had a huge influence in the way we grew up; and they nurtured confidence, individuality, and honesty. 

Here is a little snap shot of most of the girls in our group in 2006 (we were 14 years old at the time)

We were at a rest stop in Weed, California on our way to our first S.E.R.V.E. trip in Bellview, CA. 

Anyway, back to the point of this post! My journal. I opened it up, and one of the first pages I found was of a page of quotes I liked from September 18, 2007, followed by "My life as I DREAM (5 years) and (10 years). 

The three quotes i had written down were:

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

                 - Henry David Thoreau

" What would you do if you knew you could not fail?"

                 - Robert H. Schuller

"Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened."

                - Matthew 7:7

This is what my 5 and 10 year plans looked like:

My life as I DREAM in 5 years (2012) - When I'm 20

• Stable job
• Going to college
• Travelling lots
• Long term boyfriend
• Graduating 
• Best friends
• Hanging out and having good times
• Money to do the above
• Living with friends
• Skydiving with Kirsten

10 Years (2017) - When I'm 25

• Husband, a boy, twins (boy & girl), girl
• Stay at home mom  (until kids are old enough)
• Husband with good job

INTERESTING! I'm not necessarily on track for all of the things in my 10 year plan (how did I go from having a boyfriend at 20 and having 4 kids at 25?... Bad math!), and I may have missed out on a few from my 5 year plan, but over-all I feel my life goals/values have remained very similar. (Looks like I have to go Skydiving!)

This is what my REAL life looked like when I was 20 (in comparison to my "DREAM" life)

• Quit working at Esquires in March 2012, start working at Starbucks and quit Starbucks in July, and start my permanent FT clerk line for Fraser Health in July!
• Had completed 2 years of Sciences at SFU, but stopped in April 2011. I am NOW working towards my Legal Administrative Assistant Certificate, and will complete that in April 2016. 
• Had done no travelling at that time, but since have done Mexico, LA/Disneyland and Europe.
• Was engaged to David after 4 years of dating and planning our November 2012 wedding. 
• Graduated Highschool in 2009
• I had a few close friends
• I mostly hung out with David at this time, so some other friendships struggled.
• I have always been a great saver, and had VERY little expenses (other than my car), so I did have the expendable income to do the things I wanted to do. 
• I was living with my parents until David and I got married in November; then I was still living with a friend, he was just also my Husband!
• Maybe we can move sky-diving to the 10 year plan. Haha.

What does my 10 year (2017) plan look like now? Well... that is really only a 2 year plan!

• David continuing to build/expand Kimber Images into a job that can support us and our future family
• Have a baby
• Buy a house (done, but haven't moved in yet)
• Working hard for Fraser Health
• Keeping up with agility with Sherlock, and competing in the Regionals
• Possibly do some more travelling? Vacation to Mexico? Hawaii?

Can't make things TOO daunting for myself! Some of these things are already in the works, so maybe that's cheating. 

You may be reading this post and thinking, "Come on girl! Where are your goals? What are you accomplishing here? That looks boring!" I understand that. I'm a simple person. I don't feel the need to make lots of money, or the need to be driving a nice car or the need to continue my education right now, or the need to travel the whole world before I "settle down". I have always been an old soul, or a Grandma trapped in a 20-something's body (read this link). I'm more confident in who I am and where I'm headed now than I have ever been. My goal for life is to be as happy as possible. Plain and simple. 

Shameless Harry Potter quote