There is no magic ball, psychic, or fortune teller that is able to tell me where I will be in the future. I have hopes and aspirations much like everyone else of course, but as I sit here and analyze the question, I feel as though my life could take several different routes.

At least a year from now I can say with much certainty that I will be in a better place than I am right now from a mental standpoint. But who’s to say something new won’t pop up? The possibility is always there, but I am confident one year from now I will indeed be better off than I am as I sit here and type this response.

My mind shifts further into the future. I think about the next big milestone in my life, graduation. In 3 years and 2 months time I hope to be receiving my marketing and management diploma. I’m going to have a job already lined up, as well as my own place. I get excited thinking about this future I expect to have. But who’s to say I’ll be able to get through the next 3 years? Maybe I’ll struggle to find a job in the ever competitive business industry. Will all of my hard work have been worth it? Will all the money, time, and effort have been in vain?

My mind springs forward decades into the future. I’m a retired, gray, wrinkly, old woman. I hope to have made a lot of money in my lifetime, and be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor in my old age. I hope to have a loving, big family. I want to be seen as someone important to a lot of people, whether they are family or not. I want to have all the hard work and pain from my younger years be worth it, to be blissfully happy. But my mind goes back to that place of worry. Who’s to say I won’t have regrets? Or that I will even be able to take care of myself and think clearly in my old age? There are a million things that could go wrong in my life from this moment up to that point. Who’s to say they won’t?

I try not to think on the negative side, but it seems to be a part of who I am. I tend to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. I fear if I let myself truly bask in the excitement of how awesome my future could be, I may not be able to handle if there is a wrench in my plans.