Today I was thinking about all the gray areas of life. As we age most of us come to the realization that everything is not as black and white as we thought. We don’t have all the answers and most things in life are unclear. We slowly find out that it’s common to not have all the answers. Only arrogant and underdeveloped people think that they know all the answers. Truer words have never been spoken when Albert Einstein stated, “The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don’t know.” We are learning more each and every day (in all areas of life). Some of us are still trying to figure out our future. Some of us are trying to tackle parenting. Some of us are realizing that marriage is not as easy as it seemed. Some of us are questioning everything in which we have ever believed. When you are a teenager, you have this clear picture in your head of what your future will look like. You know the career you want, the goals you want to accomplish, the age you want to get married (or if you even want to get married), and how many children you want (or if you want children at all). You have it all figured out until life happens and knock you off your planned path. Don’t get me wrong, there are people who have reached their goals in their predicted timeframe, but it is rare to reach every single goal. Now if all your goals are career based, and you do not want marriage or children then it’s more likely to reach your goals if you’re just focusing on a single area of your life. The truth is sometimes we change our minds and develop interest elsewhere. Sometimes we don’t find our other half until later in life. Sometimes we don’t have children at the intended timeframe (or if we have children at all). We never know how things will turn out. As frustrating as it is to have your plans go towards an unfamiliar direction, we have to just hope that life is directing us to something that is more fitting and fulfilling.
When I was a senior in high school, I had my timeline all figured out. I wanted to earn my bachelors and master’s degree in accounting, get married and have my first child in my twenties, and eventually become a CFO of a company. That was my plan. After my first year in college, I realized accounting was not for me. I actually hated it. By the time I reached age 23, I wanted to be a sportscaster and I no longer wanted children. Fast-forward to now, and my life is not really what I planned. So much has changed. I didn’t get my degrees on time, but I did finish my bachelor’s and master’s degree in my twenties. I also got married in my twenties. None of my degrees were in accounting and I am not a CFO, and I am okay with that. One thing that has changed a couple of times, is my desire to have children. I constantly go back and forth on that one until recently. The last couple of years I can say that I do want children, and the possibility of not having any does scare me. As for my career, I just figured out what I really wanted after being on this whirlwind journey of self-discovery. Now I’m just trying to execute it.
Looking back, I can honestly say that I’ve miss that confidence. I miss that childhood delusion of thinking that everything will happen EXACTLY as I WANT it. Let’s be honest and upfront, feeling lost and unsure SUCKS! At a certain age, most people just want to feel like they’re going through their ideal timeline as smooth as possible. If there is something in your life that didn’t happen as fast as you wanted it to, remember you are not alone. Even the influencers who travel all over and have the finest things don’t have it all. If you really pay attention, you will see that there’s always something missing or not going as well as it appears. You might have a great marriage, but your career is hanging in the balance. You might be exactly where you want to be in your career, but you’ve been looking for love for years and years. You might be a great mom (or dad) with well-behaved children with a loving-kind heart, but your career or marriage took a backseat. While you’re feeling sad, there’s some careerwoman out there who’s obsessively tracking her ovulation, taking natural remedies, and going through rounds of IVF to have a child. There’s also a person who has a career and a child, but parenting is such a struggle for them. That’s the thing about life, you just never know! It is normal to want it all. It is normal to grow up with so much hope and optimism for the future. It’s also normal to reach your late twenties and early thirties and not be where you thought you would be. We all have something special that someone else might desire, and we have to be thankful for the things that we do have. Finishing school is not easy! Mastering a skill is not easy! Making it far in your career field is not easy! Marriage is not easy! Parenting is NOT easy! So, if you accomplished one of your goals BE Proud! There somebody currently struggling to achieve what you have already achieved or have what you already received. Never forget that! It’s okay to want more but let us not forget the milestones that we did complete. As always, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this post. Have a great evening! 😉
JustGottaMakeIt 