Do you remember what you wanted to do with your life at 15? Do you remember what your goals were and how you planned on reaching them? I do. And guess what … None of it happened! When I was 15 I wanted to be a teacher driving a BMW convertible with two kids blasting some Eminem and Usher by the time I was 25. How exactly do you fit 2 car seats in a tiny convertible? Is there even a backseat? Sometimes I think back and just laugh at myself.

After more than a decade has passed, here I sit with no kids, no BMW and country on my radio. My 15 year old self would not approve! (Don’t worry too much, I still listen to Eminem) When I turned 25 I think I cried for a week straight. There’s so much pressure to have everything figured out. Graduate high school, go to college for 4 years, come out at 22 and find a career and a husband and have babies! Why? I don’t know about you but I didn’t know at 18 or 22 or even 25 what my life had in store for me. Okay, maybe it was just because I was drunk the whole time …

It’s like we are always in a race with each other or with ourselves. Who is getting promoted? Who just bought a house? Who is on their 3rd child? Who is celebrating 5 years of marriage? One thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that everyone lives at their own pace and that’s okay. It doesn’t make anyone better or worse. It means that we are different. That’s the beauty of the world, everyone is different. While my friends were getting married and having babies, I was partying my 20's up. And I regret nothing.

There’s so much life to experience. If you’re not ready to settle down, don’t. If you want to travel before you have a family, travel. If you don’t want kids, don’t have them. Stop listening to what everyone else says is “normal” and do what makes you happy. I’m not saying don’t have a 10-year plan or even a 5-year plan, I’m only saying if life ends up being different than you “planned” or what you wanted at one point, so what? Your life is what you make of it.

I can tell you one thing, I’m happy my life didn’t turn out the way that I expected. I can’t even imagine 25 year old me having 2 kids. I made some questionable choices along the way but they brought me here. I have a wonderful boyfriend, his daughter, our pets, our families and few friends that turned into family. I may not have children of my own yet, but I have nieces and nephews and my brother to spoil the sh!t out of! (Most of) my family has supported me along the way and at the end of the day that’s all we can hope for.