In the year 2030, my kids will be 31, 29, 26, and 24.
So I imagine that I will be an empty-nester. And I will most certainly be done homeschooling; I’ve only got a few more years left of that.
I hope to have my nursing degree long before 10 years are up, so hopefully in 10 years’ time, I will be spending some of my time taking care of patients.
However, I only want to do that part-time. I still want space in my schedule, and I think part-time would help me avoid the burnout that so often comes with the medical field.
Will I still be blogging by then? Boy, I don’t know.
Mainly, I wonder if blogging will still even be a thing in another decade. I love to write, though, so if blogs still exist, I’m guessing I will still be typing away in some capacity.
I hope to spend time doing things like serving at church, being there for my adult kids, spending time with Mr. FG, cooking, volunteering in my community, and so on.
I have some hesitations about the value of short-term mission trips in general (that’s a whole ‘nother topic!), but if there is a way to do some medical mission work with my nursing degree, I would be open to doing that in the future.
Really, though, this question is hard to answer with any degree of certainty because I, like you, do not know the future.
Who knows if I will still be here in 10 years?
And if I am, who knows what will happen in my life by then? There are all sorts of things I can imagine that might completely change how I spend my days in ten years.
Will a parent need care? Will one of my kids need me in new and different ways? Will we need to relocate for some reason? Will my body give out on me in some way?
I figure the best thing is to make plans and pursue them, but to also hold them loosely, keeping a heart that is open to whatever plans God has for me. I trust that His plans for me are good, even if they end up being different than my own plans.
Here. We’re planning on staying right here until our last child graduates from high school (sixteen years from now). We might, however, have managed to fix up the abandoned house we bought next door by then, though, so I might not still be in our crumbling trailer house.
I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m still working at the school then, as there is a definite shortage of labor of all sorts here, so not having a job is actually kind of hard to maintain.
In ten years, my kids will be 20, 18, 15, and 12, so I guess I’ll be spending a lot of time feeding teenagers. Like you, I will still be writing on my blog if that’s an option, because I am a creature of habit to a ridiculous degree.
Also like you, however, I realize that so much can change in unforeseeable ways, so I usually don’t think that far ahead. 🙂
I am so ready to follow your blog posts of fixing the next-door house. 😀
I have a hard time planning for tomorrow, let alone 10 years from now.
In 10 years the kids will be 22, 20, 18, 16, 14. This seems almost unfathomable.
I hope and pray for good health, specifically good mental health, and for faith and optimism to carry us through. Anything else, I’ll take what comes.
This question freaks me out a bit, ha! My kids will be: 36, 36, 27, 24, 22. Yikes! My husband will be retired because being in law enforcement he will have enough years to do so and nowadays no one wants to stay in that field longer than you have to unfortunately. I’ll still have to work though to be paying for college!. I hope we are all healthy. I assume I’ll be busy with grandchildren!
I have no idea. Pretty much nothing in my life has turned out like I expected or planned! Since I would have never guessed the circumstances I’m living in now, but am reasonably happy, that gives me faith that I’ll be OK, no matter what!
A few things have been pretty devastating, but more things have been like miraculous, unpredictable surprises. So I’m just focusing on basics, frugality, one-day-at-a-time living, maintaining friendships, helping others where possible.
I think about this all the time. My spouse is 22 years older than me, so in 10 years when I’m 52, he’ll be 74. Hopefully we’ll still be doing all the things: biking, golfing, camping, skiing…but as you said, Kristen, we never know. I try to plan out situations and scenarios, but then I think to myself, “You don’t even know what tomorrow holds!” So I just pray that we’ll be together doing the things we love for as long as possible…will people still need me to work on their websites and their social media then? Will that stuff even matter? Again, who knows? SO we’ll just wait and see!
I admire that you’re choosing to pursue a degree as your own kids choose theirs. And in a helping field! 🙂 Medical mission work is totally possible, even “at home.” As you get there, maybe think about local homeless shelters/thermal shelters that might find it valuable to have you come check vitals and just be a friendly proponent of medicine in general. Building trust in the system is so important to getting people to commit to a health plan!