Just a few days ago, I had a conversation with my friend about how excited she was about the 10-year plan she had recently written up. Initially, I thought, "Why are you writing a 10-year plan, we are only 20-years-old?" Then, I thought, "Oh my God, I need a 10-year plan, we are 20 years old!"
I immediately went into panic mode because I thought that I needed my life planned out, but I soon learned that this doesn't have to be scary and it doesn't have to be a chore, it can be fun!
As I began writing it, I immediately started with career goals that I had straight after college. I started getting excited about all of the opportunities there are in the world. As a writer, I was having fun making up my dream life and laying out exactly what I wanted to happen and when. I like to think I'm a dreamer, however, I don't consider my dreams and goals separate entities. Dreams are goals waiting to happen if you work hard enough.
In these past few weeks, I have been trying to think about what exactly I wanted to do with my life outside of college. I was having difficulty because I was thinking too much about if my dreams were realistic enough, and not enough about what I truly would love to spend my life doing. Writing this 10-year plan, I wasn't taking myself too seriously because let's be real, when does life ever actually work out the way we think it will?
So, I went on writing what I thought was this ridiculous dream life. After finishing it and sending it out to my friends to laugh and talk about, all of their responses were along the lines of, "I like that." and "That seems like a good life." I was expecting more giggles and "I wish" responses. I was so taken back by it because seeing their normal, unfazed responses made me think, "Wow, this actually could be my life someday, and I truly want that."
Writing this 10-year plan not only was a fun writing exercise for me, but it forced me to notice what I truly wanted to do and to realize that my dreams could one day turn into reality if I work hard enough and that in turn became motivation to work even harder throughout my next couple of years in school.
