The Passage of Time

Since my last post, I have two new nieces, Amanda Grace, fifth child of my oldest sister, and Casey Michelle, first child of my third youngest sister, I've started a new part-time nursing job working nights at a retirement community, after spending some weeks working at a greenhouse, and I've lost more than fifteen pounds. By the end of this summer, my brother will be married, my Dad will turn sixty-five and be one year from retirement, and I will be thirty-seven years old. Needless to say, time is passing by, mostly undocumented on this blog.

Overall I'm doing better than a year ago, and much better than two years ago. I still need to find a little more purpose to my days, but at least I am working and working in my field. Also my mental health has seen a big improvement.

I've never really had a five year plan or ten year plan for my life, but I'm not at the place I might have expected five years ago or a decade ago. Eleven years ago, I aspired to be a professor in the field of biblical studies. Five years ago, I was a novice nurse. Dreams for my life would have included getting married and having children, maybe owning a home, and having a full-time successful career.

When I was twenty-nine, I made a list of thirty things to do before I turned thirty which I posted on this blog here. Some of these things I have accomplished or made some progress in, but other ones I still haven't done all these years later. I have yet to take a pottery class, join a book club, travel to a foreign country other than the US, perform ten consecutive push-ups successfully, go on an overnight canoe trip, play even a single tennis game, and I've never even attempted a lemon meringue pie. Making these goals was a fun exercise and it did encourage me towards completing some of them.

I'm wondering if I should make a formal five year and ten year plan with concrete goals to work towards. Life is unpredictable, especially when dealing with a mental illness, but if I don't make any plans or goals, it might just pass me by.