Where Do You See Yourself in 10 Years?

The infamous question that every high schooler gets asked. And 10 years ago, I graduated high school. Queue the “Pomp And Circumstance”…

So now my 10 years is up, and I wanna unpack it! I never imagined all that would transpire over the course of these 10 years. How much my life would change in a mere 3,650 days. Dang, that sounds like a ton of time, but it truly went by in the blink of an eye. However looking back, I know how I would have answered that question as a high school senior. And it is FAR from where my life is now.

When I was college searching, I remember being extremely interested in both business and biology programs. I can vividly remember visiting Georgia Tech’s campus and falling instantly in love with their business program. And I remember walking around Clemson’s campus and having heart eyes for their biology program. So I applied to a number of schools with interest in both business and biology as my major. But after lots of prayer and careful consideration (and getting into all the schools I applied to – To God Be the Glory!), I decided on Samford University in Birmingham, AL (Go Dogs!). I started off as a Business major, and then after one week of classes, I switched my major to Biology. Why you may ask? I think I felt a deep desire to learn more about creation and biology just seemed like a great place to start. If I wanted to specialize from there, I could but this would at least get me some of the necessary pre-requisites. Then after fall semester and taking plant biology, I quickly changed my major to Exercise Science. One can only handle so much about angiosperms and gymnosperms. I wanted to learn about the human body, how it functions, and how we can steward our bodies, so Exercise Science was the obvious choice.

My sophomore year, one of my Kinesiology professors was sharing a powerpoint presentation about career choices for those pursuing this major. That was when I heard about Physician Assistants for the first time. And I remember instantly feeling like that was the perfect career fit for my specific interests and talents. Fast forward four years and three application cycles, and I finally got into PA school and began the journey to being a medical provider. I remember buying my first stethoscope and feeling like I’d truly arrived. Little did I know just how bumpy the ride would be ahead of me. Not to mention the countless hours of isolated studying, replaying lectures at 2.0 speed, and rewriting my notes again and again. But that seed of wanting to become a PA was planted four years before I ever saw fruit of it. Here I am today, thankful and grateful for the treacherous journey that brought me to this career. I’ve been practicing as a PA now for two years and I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.

But if someone had asked me, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” when I was graduating high school, my answer would like have been something like this:

When I look at this list, I see a lot of expectations. My 18-year-old self had some lofty expectations of what I should be accomplishing/attaining. But I don’t function under my own personal timeline, I function within God’s timeline. So I anticipated myself falling in love with a guy in college because that was what I assumed most people did. But I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t, because then I wouldn’t have found Cary. Then I wouldn’t have gone on Bumble and started chatting with this cute, outdoorsy guy who loved Jesus, the mountains, and Washington football team.

Here’s what actually happened in 10 years…

Thankful for what the past 10 years have taught me. It’s incredible to see how different a person I am, but I’m oh so thankful for the journey that made me more strong in my faith, more confident in my purpose and calling, and more mature as an adult. Can’t wait to see what the next 10 years have in store!