Wednesday 27 July 2011

Future....

The FUTURE. 

A word, which holds so many possibilities and conjures numerous questions asking to be answered.  As I come closer to finishing my Business degree at the end of this year (it's been 9 years in the making with more time postponing the degree rather than studying it) I have a consistent niggle at the back of my mind concerning my post degree future.  I feel years behind in life milestones compared to friends, I feel I have to make a life altering decision and choose a final career, grow up and generally make decisions that show I'm now an adult, not a twenty-something drifter. 

I've considered packing up and moving south to a city I adore, but after thinking it through with unglazed eyes and the 'future' in mind, I now think it may not be the best decision after all.  I know I want four things to happen in the next five-seven years:

* Start paying my parents back for the money they have leant me over the years
* Save to get a mortgage on a place of my own
* Create a business plan to start a hospitality consulting business, and/or a cafe or bar
* Get married and have a family

The last one I have little control over and judging from past boyfriends, I have little hope it will happen before I'm 30, if at all.  Points two and three are my main priority but seem out of reach.  Saving is achievable, but takes forever to mount up to seem worth the while.  Point three, my ultimate goal but the hardest to start.  How do you make the first step to starting a business?  Are there business people out there in the field that have spare minutes in their day to mentor someone like me?

I would love to pack up and start in a new city, but to move and have to continue to wait tables, pay loads more in rent and live pay check to pay check - I just can't do it.  I would find it depressing not be able to live the lifestyle I'd move for.  Is it wise to think rationally about decisions or should one just go with the flow?  How much control do we have over our future?  Is it fate or our choice which direction we go?

My friends are all in various stages in their life.  Some are diving head first into their chosen careers, some are married or in serious relationships, some are pregnant, and some are experiencing motherhood for the first time.  Why is it those of us not at the same stage in life as our friends feel uneasy about the path our life seems to be going?  I feel I'm still at the stage where I'm figuring it all out.  I can see what the next few months are going to be like, but after November, when uni is over, I'm drawing a blank.

The future, friend or foe?

Angelina x