To the girl who has her whole life mapped out,
It doesn't have to be this way.
I know how you're feeling. You have so many aspirations, so many goals. You know exactly what you want and the timeline in which you want to achieve it. A college graduate at 22, wife at 24, and a mother to two beautiful kids by the time you're 30.
In your head, these goals sound realistic. They sound attainable. They sound perfect. And sure, maybe they are, for now.
But darling, I have some news for you.
There's a possibility these plans won't work out.
Now, don't get scared. Don't get upset. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you.
I was exactly like you once. I had my whole entire life mapped out. I knew where I was going, what I wanted to do, and who I wanted to be with. I thought my boyfriend was "the one" and I was ready for him to pop the question whenever the time was right. I thought I was ready for children.
And hey, that sounds amazing...but at 19 years old, I realized just how much stress I was putting on not only myself but the people I love.
All my friends told me that my goals were great, but that I shouldn't get too attached to them in case something didn't work out.
But I was determined. I knew what I wanted and I was willing to do anything it took to get myself there. I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong, until one day,
Things spiraled out of control.
My boyfriend told me something that made my head spin and my stomach drop. He said that he wasn't ready for marriage anytime soon and that he didn't want kids in the nearby future.
These statements took me by surprise. "What do you mean you don't want those things? What do you mean you don't have your entire life mapped out?"
He responded gently, and with the utmost respect for me as a person. He said, "I don't like to completely map out my life. I like to take it day by day and enjoy the world as I go along. Life is so good right now, so why worry about what it will be like in the future? Live in the moment and don't rush into everything - life isn't a race." (Btw - Can you tell he's an Aries?)
And with those words, I changed my whole life around.
I stopped worrying so much about the future and I started living in the moment. I stopped thinking about the negative "What If's" and started pouring positivity into my life. I started shoving the anxious thoughts aside and made every day a great one. I started feeding myself affirmations, not insults. I stopped putting myself first and instead thought of everyone else before I made a decision. I started living a better life.
And you can too.
So, to the girl who has her whole life mapped out: it's okay to take it day by day. It's okay to not have a plan for everything. It's okay to take life slowly.
Because at the end of the day,
"Life isn't a race."