Someone asked me last week, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
I couldn’t answer that question.
All of us have visions of our future- what we’ll accomplish in work, our financial security, our ideal bodies, where we’ll live and who we’ll surround ourselves with. I’ve learned it’s dangerous to fixate too much on a concrete future vision. Things change, and often our brains can’t fathom what we’re capable of accomplishing and becoming. Don’t postpone your happiness for your future self. Soak it in now by remembering how far you’ve come.
This pic was taken 5 years ago, right before I left a job I’d worked at for 11 years. It was all I’d known and at the same time, I knew deep-down that it wasn’t my calling. I was terrified and excited and felt compelled to leap and follow my heart. It would’ve been impossible to predict all the serendipitous opportunities and doors that have opened once I let go and finally surrendered.
So instead of feeling anxious about your future “5 Year Plan,” I invite you to try something called “The Reverse Gap” exercise. Take out a piece of paper and grab a pen. Write down everything you’ve accomplished and overcome and created and transformed and how you’ve changed for the better in the past five years. Read your list. Save it and read it over and over again whenever you get too caught up in “Future You” and forget to celebrate how far you’ve come.
Everything you’ve done in the past has brought you to where you are.
You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be right now. Put your hand over your heart and repeat that.
I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be right now.