11.09.2009

Five, 10, 15 years from now

Walking through Carroll Gardens this weekend, our friend Anja asked us were we would live if we could live anywhere in the US. We were stumped.

And recently I was asked by my friend Laura to consider where I want to be in my life in five, ten, or fifteen years from now. I feel bifurcated on this question.

Chose your own adventure 5 year option A: debt free, except for our government law school loans, working as a writer and photographer, possibly a little person running around; option B: leading projects at my current job as a bureaucrat watching my life go by.

Not really two options there. So I need to proceed with Option A.

What do you do when you feel that what you want out of life and where you are currently positioned in life don’t align? Make a plan. Our plan to get from here to option A has been to work to pay off our debt. We need to reduce our costs. Simplify. Because I am unsatisfied in our daily work, we spend money and spare time doing things that we do find fulfilling.

But there is another leap that is necessary: I need to figure out how to make money, less money I am sure, writing and taking pictures for a living.

And I am worried about the day I decide to make this leap and what I will do on the next morning. Really? One day I will just decide to make this change? I suppose it will be more of a long-term migration in that direction.

But it is scary. What if I don’t like it? I know I will just try the next thing.

The impulsive side of me wants to enact Project 37 tomorrow, not five years from now. Realistically, I need to wait. Keep my eye on the prize. Bleh.

What are your five, ten, and fifteen year plans?

3 comments:

Bungalow Builder said...

Bifurcation sounds painful. I am sorry to have done that to you.

Erica said...

People only change when the pain of changing is less than the pain of staying the same.

Bungalow Builder said...

Perhaps empowered by my own changes coming up, I got to thinking about the question re: If you could live anywhere where would you... You CAN live anywhere, so maybe you ARE living where you want to... I mean, seriously, you guys are brilliant people, good communicators, pretty frugal. You aren't encumbered by the things that make people forced to stay somewhere. Pick anywhere in the US and you will find dumber people somehow making it work in those places. You guys can too. It's all about choices. The fact that you haven't chosen to move is a choice in itself. Maybe you should just embrace it...