My Next 10 Years

I might have expected myself to write this post this time last year instead of this year since it was last year I turned 35. However, as my birthday gets closer (now only a few weeks away), I find myself considering my past 10 years. And I feel proud. Since I turned 25 I have:

• received both my B.S. and Master's degrees
• passed my occupational therapy certification exam
• gave birth to two beautiful and unique girls
• married an amazing man
• stay married to that amazing man :)
• became an active member of the LDS church and received my endowments in the temple
• made and kept more wonderful friends than I've had in my entire life

I was thinking about the space of ten years. While it seems to go by rather quickly at times, especially when it comes to our children, it is actually quite a span of time. It is obviously enough time to make major achievements in our lives.

So as I contemplate again, that span of ten years, I wonder what my next ten have in store for me. Or I could re-phrase that. What do I hold in store for those ten years? I do have most of the control (excluding major catastrophic incidences and health related problems). I could do pretty much anything! What then? I know I don't have to plan it all right now but when I was in my twenties, I had a pretty good idea of the things I wanted to achieve in the next several years - and I did those. All of them.

Among some of the things I would like to consider for the future might be related to an increasing self of financial comfort, as in retirement and college funds. We've largely left those up in the air, sadly and shamefully. I'd also like to consider health related goals like perhaps more races and intense triathlons. It would also be great to include some family travel. In ten years, my baby will be 10 - easily an age where we could go to Europe or Asia if we chose. Professionally, I need to consider what business I'd like to be in and where I want that business to be. And what of my kids? I guess I don't have control over what they will and won't become but I have influence - what am I going to do about that in the next 10 years? And lastly but most importantly...what am I going to do to progress myself spiritually?

Lots to think about. My next 10 years could be some of the most productive of my life. I'm young still, and in good health. My children will be around me but increasingly independent. There is so much that I can do - what WILL I do? What will make me proud in 10 more years?