10 years ago, your life probably looked absolutely nothing like how it does today. 10 years ago, you probably thought your life would be completely different than how it actually is.

As much as we try and think we have everything figured out, life never goes the way we expect it to. Thank goodness for that, because I think the plans that we make in our minds would be far less enjoyable than the surprise twists that make their way into our life stories. Sometimes the things we never saw coming are the very things that help us the most, and sometimes the things we never thought we would lose end up being the things that allow what we truly need to come into our lives.

10 years ago, when you were much younger but thought you had the whole world figured out, you probably thought your college years would be the best years of your life. You probably thought you would have your entire life figured out by the time you first stepped foot on campus and that bad times would never affect you. You thought you’d go to class, make great friends, graduate with a degree or two and then set off on your perfect life. Never did we truly plan on going through hard times, like death, sickness, breakups, friend drama, impossible classes or being rejected from jobs. These things are terrible, really. But, had we not gone through them, our lives would look nothing like they do now, nor would they look anything close to what our lives will look like in 10 years.

Right now, your life may look nothing like you hoped or thought it would. It may be filled with a lot more uncertainty, sadness or loneliness than you would like. But, the important thing to remember is this: nothing in this life stays the same forever. Thank goodness for that beautiful concept.

We can try to look ahead to the next one, two, five or 10 years, and there will be a strong temptation to convince ourselves that our lives are never going to look any different than they do right now. It’s so easy to consider ourselves “stuck” on certain emotions, feelings, circumstances or struggles. But, the truth is that we are never, ever stuck. We may think we know exactly what our lives are going to look like from here on out, but we also thought that 10 years ago, and goodness knows ours ideas from 10 years ago could not be further from our current realities.

So, feel whatever emotions you’re feeling right now. Feel sad, angry, hurt, confused, lonely, scared, stuck or unsure. But, don’t let those emotions convince you that they are going to stick around forever. Don’t let them make you believe that your future is completely figured out and you are doomed to have a mediocre life. Feel those emotions, but use them to propel you onward. Feel sad? Use that to drive you to figure out how to choose happiness again. Feel lost? Keep going, taking opportunities and risks, and you never know where they may lead you.

Life changes so much over the course of any given amount of time. We have zero evidence that our lives will forever remain exactly as they are now. We do, however, have solid evidence and experience that our lives tend to turn out very differently than we may expect, but, as long as we keep believing and keep pursuing our dreams and passions, they are always incredibly beautiful and much better than we ever could have dreamed.