Ten Years

Soon, I will be twenty-eight, an important age for me.  Ten years will have passed since I graduated high school.  Only two years remain until I hit a new decade.  It seems a time to reflect on where I wanted to be ten years ago and where I am now.

I thought I'd be further along than I am now.  Realistically, I knew I'd be struggling as a writer, but I guess I'd hoped I'd be published by now, or at least have finished a novel.  I'm not married, I don't have my own place, I don't even have a driver's license.  It's easy to see myself as a failure, looking at this particular slice of life.  But I met some goals and did some things I never expected.  For example, I:

• Got my Bachelor's Degree
• Became Christian
• Learned Japanese
• Traveled Abroad
• Lived Abroad (for 3 years!)
• Paid off $20,000 in Student Debts
• Did Volunteer Work
• Received 14 Rejections
• Wrote and Re-wrote an 850 page fantasy novel
• Never gave up on my dream to be a writer, even when things got tough

My twenties were about ambition, but it was also a time of learning how to be an adult.  I hope that in my thirties some of this hard learning will pay off, and I'll have a steadier life.  Here's how I picture myself in the next ten years, barring some kind of disaster:

• I want to have three books published
• I want my own house/ apartment and my own little dog
• I want a retirement account with actual money in it
• I want to try dating
• I want to keep up my volunteer work
• I want to plant a garden
• I want to travel to at least 2 different countries
• I want to learn a new, surprising skill
• I want to have a close relationship to family and friends
• I might want a Master's Degree

So, those are my modest long-term goals.  Hopefully, I'll see them through.