It is the end of a decade and the end of an era (The Denver Era) so I thought it would be an appropriate time to take a snapshot. Sometimes along the road of life we lose track of what was important to our earlier selves. Usually we’ve just grown into different priorities. Still, it is important to be reminded of our values and priorities as they were at a given point in time so that we might hold our older selves accountable to our earlier selves.

Did I change my mind or did I sell out? Did I take a different path or just fail to follow the first one? Did I move on or did I just forget? Am I closer to the person I wanted to be? Do I still want to be that person? Who knows where I will be in 2020, but today I’m taking a snapshot and launching it into cyberspace inside this time capsule we call the internet…

This post was inspired by a clever marketing tool used to gather links and email addresses by LuluLemon.

Where I Want To Be in Ten Years…

In ten years I would like to not have a full time job working for anyone, and I would like to not be taking clients. I want to work on my own time. My jobs will be to manage my websites, teach visitors to the farmstay in Virginia some simple living skills, grow my own food, take care of our animals, make things with my hands, and write. I hope to have a book published by then, probably a creative nonfiction memoir about voluntary simplicity, or a nonfiction book about making a decent living online. I want to still be married to my wife, and would like to have one or two children. I would like to adopt at least one of them. I want to have a healthy, happy marriage in which we love and respect each other. I want to allow my wife to live her own life the way she wants to and not force upon her my own values and personality. I hope we grow parallel to each other and with each other, but not necessarily on top of each other. I want to be a good father. I want to be calm and reasoning. I want to talk less and listen more. I want to remember what I read. I want to meditate regularly. I want to think about my relationship to others, the earth, the universe and – if there is one, God – rather than taking those things for granted. I want to have purchased my mother a house, or otherwise have helped her financially in a significant way. I want more time to enjoy the little things in life. I want to find ways to travel out of the country at least once every three years without sacrificing my home on the farm. I find joy in teaching and want to share our knowledge, skills and experience with visitors to the farm without being preachy or prideful about it. I want to care less about what people think of me. I want to be involved in a greater good and give back to my community in some way. I want to be healthy in mind and body. I want to spend fewer than seven hours each week watching TV or movies. I want to learn skills that allow me to work with my hands. I want to feel confident fixing and building things myself. I want to continue to be a nonsmoker, to only drink moderately, to be drug-free and clear-minded. I want to have the farm paid for completely, our student loans paid off, no credit card debt or car payments, and enough money in the bank to live on comfortably for at least one year if all other income streams should cease. In addition to that, I want to have a retirement account with at least $50,000 between the two of us. I want to be strong both physically and mentally. I want to be happy with where my life is, where it was and where it is going. I want to take classes and workshops for various interests, such as writing, woodworking, mechanical maintenance, meditation, fitness… I want those most important to me to know how much I care about them. I want us to be seeing our extended families at least once every year. I want to be seeing my parents and brothers much more often than I do now. I want to be on good terms with our neighbors. I want to have a warm, dry home, plenty of food in the pantry and plenty of books to read. Ten years from now I want to be enjoying my life surrounded by family and good friends.

To sum things up in keywords, since that’s what I do for a living:
marriage, children, father, brother, son, family, health, happiness, security, self sufficiency, healthy food, simple living skills, calm, writing, teaching, nature, giving back, humble, honorable, good person, freedom, time, enjoying life…

I hope this post inspires you to write a reminder to your future self as well. Come back and let us know if you do.