I grew up in a small town, and by small I mean more like a village, everybody knows everybody. I went to and graduated from a school that housed Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Seniors would sometimes walk the halls, or be assembled in the gym with the "little kids" and that was the norm. A couple of months ago pictures kept popping up on my social media feeds showing the proud smiling graduates. Class of 2016! And talk about feeling old as heck. The little kids that I remember seeing in the lunch room or out in the hallways were walking across the stage and getting their high school diplomas and running off to the next chapter in the lives. And I could only think of one thing…What the heck am I doing with my life?

Talking about this with my best friend, Jackie, it made me think about the girl that walked across that same stage to received her high school diploma with the Class of 2007. Man. She was something. Big dreams and big goals, this girl was going to go to college and be the first one on her fathers side to graduate. She wanted to be a teacher, have a house and a family and live happily ever after. And that girl…was me.

I thought that by now I would have one, maybe two children. Be married to a tatted man with a smoking hot beard, living on land that we purchased, in a house that we had built to our specifications, because that was just what people did where I am from. None of that has happened for me. And that is absolutely okay.

Here I am, nine years later and nothing in my life has turned out as planned. I have been married, and divorced. I lived in two rental houses and with my mom before becoming a home owner, which was a true blessing to our lives. I'm a single momma. I did graduate college and got my teaching degree and decided once I got it that teaching wasn't something that I wanted to do. (I know) I have worked dead end jobs and am still trying to find the right career path for myself. I have a car payment and sometimes struggle to make ends meet. I eat like crap, but wish upon a star that I was as skinny as I was in high school. I'm a hot mess all the time. I lose my keys, my debit card and where the heck are my black Bobs?! I have no idea. And you know what?! It's all good.

As kids, we think that life is going to be a certain way and we are devastated when it doesn't turn out like we thought that it would. If there is any advice that I could give teenagers about to make their way out into the world, it would be this; it's probably not going to go the way that you think that it is. And it will be okay. The thing about life is that it isn't according to our plans. We can plan and plan and strategize how every thing is going to go for ourselves and it almost never turns out like we think. And if it does, it was a crazy journey to get there. Anything in life that is worth having, comes with struggles. It's the struggles that put everything into perspective for us. There are going to be times that we hit rock bottom. Sometimes more than once and that is where you learn to rebuild your life and take the mistakes that you made, and turn them into something better. When you know better, you do better. Or so they say. But what do I know? I'm just riding this roller coaster called life, trying with all my might to hang on and hope for the best. Life is life. I know that's so cliche, but it's true. Live every single day the best that you can. Take chances, make mistakes, and love yourself. It'll all work out as it is suppose to. We all have a plan. It may not be what you had in mind, but God knows what is best for you. And he will make things work out in your favor. Have a little faith. You're doing great. It'll be alright.