I am a planner. I find comfort in planning. Knowing what’s gonna happen, and what’s coming up. I love lists, and calendar reminders, and not to sound any more like a nerd, but I basically love having my sh*t together. This is to say although I know what I want in the future and have goals and aspirations I am still deciding what my path is going to look like.
I wouldn’t like to say that I am lost (although I would’ve said that exact thing a year ago if you asked) I like to say I am trying to allow life to take me as it’s supposed to. I have learned (and am still learning) not to force outcomes. I try to accept life as it’s meant to be because a lot of things happen to us for a reason whether we know why or not. This is still a hard pill for me to swallow but I have come a long way in accepting this part of fate.
That being said, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have at least some sort of malleable structure I’d like to follow in these next 5 years. Just to keep me on some sort of track without feeling constrained. Leaving myself room to grow, allowing things to change and take their course.
I see myself graduating within the next year and a half (two years if I really have to). After that, I plan to use the money my mom and I save from tuition to travel. I have yet to go to Europe, Asia, Africa, or even Australia (although I’ve heard kangaroos are pretty aggressive).
I want to eat pasta in Bologna, Italy, croissants and hot chocolate in Paris, France, dance the night away in Ibiza, Spain, fulfill my chocolate lover dream in Zurich, Switzerland, visit the Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia, go to one of the Korean convenience stores I see all over my TikTok feed in South Korea and get some warm gulab jamun in Mumbai, India.
I want to visit my roots in Guyana. I went over the summer, but I am eager to go back and hopefully not get Covid again (I got Covid for the first time when I visited and had to stay an extra week with my mom. Not a vibe).
After traveling I assume for a few months, I want to begin finding and settling into a job and my career. I’d start entry-level in a corporate or editorial environment. I see myself going into marketing, communications work, human resources, or some sort of editorial (clearly keeping my options open). Hopefully, I’ll build my way up to a managerial role.
I also would love to settle into an apartment in a city somewhere in or right outside of one with a dog that I plan to rescue from a shelter (my mom would kill me if I got a dog from a breeder).
I do hope for marriage, kids, a house, yada yada yada, but that is not on my horizon currently nor is it in my 5-year plan.
My plan isn’t set in stone, but I like where it stands now. Now, I just have to wait and see where life and fate take me.
Jadyn Berrian 