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| Senior All Night Party, June 2014 |
Ten years ago I graduated from high school. Ten years. (Am I really that old already?)
Sometimes when I think about the last ten years I feel like I haven’t accomplished much. The goal that I set for myself years ago (publishing a novel) hasn’t come to fruition yet. I’m working on it and I’m feel like I’m closer now than I ever have been before, but it hasn’t happened.
And yet, judging my success by one goal and one goal alone isn’t fair. When I really take time to think back on the last ten years, I realize how much has happened. I graduated college and found a job that actually uses my degree. I’ve written two books and rewritten one of them. I published a poem. I developed a deeper passion for art. I traveled. I learned how to balance my creative endeavors with other responsibilities. I’ve had absolutely wonderful times as well as some very trying times. I studied belly dance for awhile and even performed a few times. I started to learn a new language. I fulfilled a lifelong dream and brought home my very own canine best friend.
A lot has happened and some of these happenings are things that I wouldn’t have imagined ten years ago as I sat in my high school gym in a cap and gown, waiting to walk across a stage and praying that I wouldn’t trip along the way. (I didn’t!) I may not have accomplished something that I was certain I would have by now… but let’s face it. When I first entered high school as a freshman I was supposed to have published a novel and created a TV show by the time I graduated and that didn’t happen either. But I wouldn’t have changed any part of the last ten years. (Yes, even the bad. As my dad says, those are the character building experiences. Sometimes I really hate those words, but they’re true.) I’ve grown and changed a lot in the ten years and I know that I’ll continue. But I’m happy that I’m at place where I can look back at the last ten years and be content, while looking ahead to the next ten with goals and dreams.
