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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what my ideal future looks like. In high school, it seems like they were really focused on the “five year plan, what do you want after graduation,” etc., but I’m not sure I ever really made one. I was in undergrad for a really long time anyway, and then when I finally did graduate, I don’t think I ever had that sense of “moving on” because I didn’t participate in any festivities. I didn’t put on an ugly black cape, flip any tassels, or walk across any stages. I didn’t move out of a college pad because I lived with my parents for the end of my college career, and I’ve taken the first jobs offered to me without any real consideration of what my life would be with them in it. Mostly, I never considered what my life would be like, or how I wanted it to be. So now, choosing to think about my future, I looked at 10 years from now.

I’ve spent a lot of time ruminating on it for the past few weeks. This is the first time in four years that I’m not headed out to LA for a music conference, and my wanderlust is in full gear. I’ve been looking at pictures of that beautiful city and laughing at how, on my first trip, I had said “I like it here, but I don’t think I could live here.” The second trip changed everything, and even thought it’s much farther from home than I live now – I would probably be really happy there. It’s one of maybe only two places that I’ve been to where I really felt at east, like I could just be myself. I feel like I’m getting too old to be able to move to the beach and have the life I want (like, the age I am now would be perfect, but here I sit landlocked and living a pretty unglamourous lifestyle courtesy of student loans) but maybe this could be the 10-year plan anyway.

Job: I’d like to be an artist or tour manager or agent. I think it’s possible in the next 10 years to get there, but is that the kind of job a 36 year old should really still be playing with? Maybe I’ll be up and beyond that by then – a VP or Director overseeing a team of managers or an entire tour. As long as I’m still on red carpets, I think I’ll be okay 🙂 I would also like to someday really expand and build a graphic design business.

Home: I have never wanted to own property because I didn’t want to deal with maintenance or upkeep, but I’m from a small town – I never knew about condos or townhouses or anything like that anything until recently. This patio on a penthouse in Century City calls to me.

Body: I want to be fitter, weigh less (duh) and I’m not entirely sure yet if running a marathon calls to me, but if it ever does, I’d like the LA marathon to be my first.

Money: I just want to pay of my private student loans before I live my dreams (which will ideally be long before the 10 year mark!) Being a VP (see how quickly my dream job title escalated?) would definitely ensure I could live the life I see for myself.

I know that I keep trying to go “home,” but that’s the short-term solution to current problems. At the end of the day when things are said and done and I want to live my own way – this might be it.

What’s in your 10 year plan?