chloedickensonLast Updated on 23rd June 2022
Matt asked me the question the other day of “where do you see yourself in five years’ time” and it really got me thinking about something my Head of Year said on my first day of secondary school ten years ago, back in 2009.
He played the song “In Five Years Time” by Noah and the Whale and he asked us all to write down on a piece of paper where we wanted to be in five years’ time and what we wanted to have achieved by then.
If you fast forwarded from our first day of secondary to five years into the future, then you’d be looking at a group of 16 year old, hormonal students who were just about to sit their GCSE exams.
We carried out the exercise that our Head of Year provided us with, with the intention of looking back at those goals that we set for ourselves all those years ago. Unfortunately, we never actually received those pieces of paper back, so I can’t quite remember exactly what I said, but I’m sure it was along the lines of “do well in my exams”, “be happy” and “work hard to get into uni”.
Now, if you’ve been following my blog for the last three+ years, I’m sure you’re aware that I didn’t actually go to uni (well I did, but only for three days and that’s a story for another time…!).
Instead, I got a digital marketing apprenticeship, moved into another job with better pay once my apprenticeship was completed and then eventually quit said job to become a full time freelance writer and blogger and eventually full time world traveller.
My point is; even though I set those goals for myself at the age of 11, things changed – and more importantly, I changed – and when I turned 16, I no longer wanted to go to uni.
That doesn’t mean I failed; it just means that I allowed my life to go in a different direction than the one I had originally intended.
So back to Matt’s question: “where do you see yourself in five years’ time”?
With the fast approaching arrival of a new year, and an entirely new decade, it got me thinking about where I want to be in five years’ time from now.
In five years, I’ll be 26 and that thought alone is enough to fill me with age-induced anxiety about growing old, losing my “youthful years” and being well on my way to reaching the grand “old” age of 30.
However, it also fills me with excitement, adrenaline and a desperation to hit as many goals on my list as I can.
There’s no strict deadline for five years’ time. I don’t have to have visited every country in the world. I don’t have to be engaged or married or settled down with 2.5 kids and a family estate car. And I don’t have to have achieved everything that you’re “supposed” to by that age.
But it is nice to think about what the future holds. To think about what I might achieve in the next five years. Will I still be travelling? Will I have “made” it as a professional travel writer and have my work published in top travel magazines like Lonely Planet and National Geographic?
Who knows?
I can say with confidence, and in no uncertain terms, that there are a few things I would love to accomplish in the next five years.
I’d love to look back at this post in 2024/5 and listen to the grammatically incorrect song that is Noah and the Whale’s “5 Years Time” and be proud of myself and my achievements.
It’d be pretty damn amazing to have ticked off many more countries, cities and continents of all the incredible places I’ve still yet to visit. It’d be awesome to see my travel writing printed in publications that I’ve loved and admired for years and it’d be amazing to feel like I’ve “made it”.
But I can also acknowledge that even if those things don’t happen, I know that I will have started the next five years with determination, gumption and a whole lot of ambition.
This time five years ago, I was 16 and had just completed my GSCE exams, I’d done very well, but still not as well as I’d wanted to.
Basically, I didn’t get all As and A*s so I was a little disappointed in myself.
However, I can now look back on that time in my life with an almost-fondness of that 16-year-old girl who thought the world had collapsed at her feet simply because she didn’t achieve 12 straight A*…
Perspective, am I right?!
This time ten years ago, I was in my first year of secondary school; hopeful, ambitious and determined to work as hard as I could to be “successful” in the future. I admire that 11-year-old girl for thinking that school would be easy and I wish I could tell her not to worry about things as much as she did, because good God was she a worrier (and she still is!).
But I can safely say, without a shadow of a doubt, that 11-year-old me would be immensely proud of the life we’ve created since then.
She’d be proud that we had the balls not to go to uni, that we took a chance on ~love~ and moved in with a boy who’d she’d known since they were 14, that we quit our day job that we knew was unfulfilling (even at the age of 20) and pursued our own career path in freelance travel writing, and most importantly, that we were brave enough to throw ourselves into full time travel and go after a dream that’s loomed over us since we were so young.
And I sincerely hope that when I look back in five years’ time, that I can look at 21-year-old me with fondness, admiration and appreciation and be grateful for the steps she was beginning to put into place to achieve a life she’d always dreamed of.
I cannot wait.
Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @imjustagirl_16.
