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| Me ten years ago, thinking I was being hilarious in a picture! |
A friend of mine posted a simple question on Facebook:
"Where were you ten years ago?"
Ten years ago, I was living in a crappy little basement suite with ceilings that were about an inch above my head (where I was lucky).
I was new in my first ever "real job", the publicist at the theatre company that would be my home for the next ten years (I just left for a new company) and thought I wanted to be an actor.
My very first relationship was on the verge of ending and my roommate was that partner's sister (we still got along great after the breakup).
I had not yet purchased my first smartphone nor had I learned to like myself (those facts are true independent of one another).
Since then I have had several more roommates, moved twice, changed "day jobs" once, added and released many side hustles, been in a few more relationships, found a family of friends including a couple of soulmate-level friends, had a smartphone become the extension of my arm, learned to like myself, and wrote a book about it.
It was surprisingly awesome to look back on the past ten years like this. It's easy to feel like the last couple of years, or even months, of life are it. That this is what life is. Looking ahead, it can be hard not to see more of the same.
Yet, when I look back at the specifics of where I was ten years ago, I can see so much transformation. Some of it I worked really hard to get, and other bits just sort of happened to/around me, and I'm grateful for all of it. (Well, most of it.)
(An equally interesting question for another time is to look at what has stayed the same.)
With this new perspective, the question of "what's next?" has a lot more mystery and hope behind it.
So tell me, where were you ten years ago?
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