Dear reader,
Do you know about five-year journals? Each page contains space to record what happened on the same day over the course of five years (or longer, if you miss some days and come back to them in later years).
I’ve wanted one for ages. Just when I took the plunge to buy one for myself, I got gifted one as a late Christmas present on the very same day! Luckilly, I had time to cancel my order - or else I would have had ten years’ worth of journals to get through.
The journal I recieved is the Jane-a-Day 5-Year Journal. T’s parents bought it at the gift shop at the Jane Austen Centre in Bath. Each day has a quote from Jane Austen’s books. It’s so pretty!
I’ve been an avid journaller for a long time, but this style of record keeping is completely new to me. Now I will be able to have a clear perspective on how my life is changing over the years.
Five years ago, it was January 2019. My life looked very different. I was working a full-time office job, had only published one book, and was dreaming of moving overseas and becoming a full-time author. I was doing well financially and was able to write during my downtime at work. In many ways, I’m worse off now than I was then! Most of that has been outside of my control, though. These last few years have thrown some major curveballs personally and globally.
I don't know exactly what the next five years have in store, but I'm hopeful and trying to move in a positive direction. I tend to overestimate what I can achieve in the space of five years, but I have an overall vision of what I want my life to look like at some point in the future: Financial independence, the ability to wake up without an alarm and set my own schedule for the day, high-quality relationships, a slow/intentional lifestyle, owning fewer but higher quality things and a home I love.
Bring on 2029!
-Sara