I am currently 25 years of age, and in just 5 years, at least by my dad’s standards, I will no longer be considered “young.” So I wanted to stop and reflect a little bit on where the last 25 years have taken me and what I hope to get out of the next five.
I’m currently working what I have declared my dream job as a Music Director at a local church. After years of musical training, studying ministry leadership in college, and being a volunteer church musician for several years, it has all led me here. I love my job and trust me – I give it my all. Not to mention, I love my church. But, if I can be 100% honest, I am not fully confident that this is the last “career field” God will call me to in my lifetime. That, to me, is incredibly exciting and at my core, I am on the edge of my seat wondering what epic adventure the Lord will call me to next. Nevertheless, I’m not going anywhere without prompting from the Holy Spirit.
I’m currently in the most wonderful relationship of my life, with a man who is committed to me, respects me, and loves Jesus. We are set to get married in a year and a day. When I turn 30 years old, we will have been married 3.5 years. This could be an entirely separate post, but no, we are not planning to have kids. It’s pretty safe to say we may reevaluate our decision later on. We are both in full-time ministry, and I’m also one of the least maternal women you may ever meet. That said, “Mother” is not a hat I plan to wear for the foreseeable future.
One huge goal I have for myself in the remaining years of my twenties is to become an entrepreneur/YouTube content creator/lifestyle blogger. It’s something I have been interested in pursuing for quite a while but I haven’t really known where to get started. This is the start, as you can tell, but I do hope to expand into other platforms later down the road, as I develop my voice, and find “my people.”
I hope that I can look back in five years and see improvement in my mental health. I am seeing a Christian counselor once a week and I’m actively working towards improving myself. It’s been nothing short of a rollercoaster for the last few months as I have faced some pretty hard times.
In five years, I hope I can look back and see where I’ve taken some risks and stepped out of the box. I want to see that I’ve done the things I’ve been wanting to do but was too scared to. One of those things would be doing something interesting with my hair. I’ve had the same hair for years. It’s time to step out of my comfort zone and risk a hair mistake, because life is just too short.
I also hope I look back and see how I’ve become more selective over time about the people I allow to influence me. I’ve caught myself beginning to let the wrong people influence me. Specifically, I’ve been following influencers promoting a lifestyle of no trash, certain diets, etc. None of those things are bad per se, but following promoters has brought out obsessive tendencies in me that I’ve had to just cut off completely for the sake of my mental health.
I hope I can look back and see how I’ve become a kinder person. I am a very harsh, sarcastic person currently, and I don’t really love that about myself, but I also don’t know where habits stop and the core of who I am begins. Can anyone relate to this?
That’s where I’m at, guys. I hope reading this has caused you to get introspective as well. It’ll be interesting to see what life looks like at 30 and what happens on the road getting there.
What are your goals for the next five years?
SARAH HARPER 