Skipping the plans, let’s see 10 years from now

Haura
3 min readFeb 2, 2022

Recently I read a very interesting book titled The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It was the first book in 2022 that got me back into a reading streak. (I disappointed myself by failing to reach my reading goal last year, but I am humbly doing the challenge again in 2022 :) Peep my Goodreads profile!). The book was so beautifully written. Other than that, it explains how the future is a series of choices and consequences. The “What If”s you have been having may not be as desirable as it looks. Everything has a catch.

I also love that it implied different futures might actually co-exist in different universes. It was assuring in a sense for people who always have discomfort towards uncertainty (re: me) can actually feel a bit more relieved. The choices that we make along the way is the best choice for us, in this universe. Maybe there is a future where I become a famous ballerina. Or a future where I have an established baking company from the age of 21. And that’s great! I have to be mindful of my choices ahead but, if I think it is best for me at that time, then it is.

Relating that bit to what I am about to write, I am speaking in the best case scenario of my future if everything goes according to plan. It’s like writing — you knew that exact part you would like to write, but to go there you have to swim through a jumble of words and make it make sense (and goes with the plot).

10 years into the future. 35 year old me.

I will not consider myself as old, but certain parts of my body may feel rickety. Even though I am already trying present time,I will probably be more conscious about what I eat and do more exercise later on, maybe enrolling in pilates or zumba classes. The reason is because I want to live long enough to see my kid grow up to a decent, properly functional adult.

I will hopefully be married. With a kid and a cat (maybe two). Worst case scenario I won’t be married but still living with a cat (or two). My kid will already be in elementary school. A family of five (including the cats) living in the suburbs of a four seasoned country. My husband works his ass off but gets home to his kid, plays with them, and makes the most of the weekends. We have weekly bonding activities: cooking/watching movies/sightseeing together. We live apart from the rest of our big family, occasionally catching up through video calls — gratefully spared from the dramas.

My job will probably be in a company where I do something creative. I have been trying to figure this out and it has become a very compelling reason for me to study management for a year. Maybe I will be in the beauty industry. Or the entertainment industry. Might figure that out in a few years. Apart from that, I will start planting the seed for my dream: creating a cafe with a library so people can have coffee and read, they can also borrow books if they are inclined. However I still need to think of the mechanism so the books will not just disappear without a trace. Also, I will document the ups and downs bit by bit and finally draft my first book. Will it be fiction or self-help book? Who knows. I’ll figure that out once I have established my pen name.

I will probably be tired most of the time. There will be many conflict within my household: whose turn to do the laundry, whose going to pick up our kid from art lessons, bills and things related to house maintenance. But I will be happy. Content. And I will finally be able to find what I have always looked for: home.

“We only need to be one person.
We only need to feel one existence.
We don’t have to do everything in order to be everything, because we are already infinite. While we are alive we always contain a future of multifarious possibility.” — Matt Haig, The Midnight Library

--

--

Haura

On a good day, I become a vessel for a words and all I want to do is write, write, and write.