January 20, 2014

What If...

What if tomorrow you woke up and couldn't remember anything about your life for the past 10 years?

Your kids.

Your husband.

Your friends.

Your coworkers.

Your mom and dad.

You don't remember any of them for the past 10 years.  Let's not forget all the events that would have transpired over the course of that time.  The people you've encountered in the past 10 years. The lessons you've learned.  You wouldn't have any recollection of any of that.

I would only remember my life at age 20.  At 20 I was still in college, hadn't met Jimmy yet, obviously didn't have my babies.  I still lived at home with my parents.  I worked at a JCPenney call center and drove a VW Beetle.  That girl was obsessed with fashion, music, celebrities, hanging out with friends, and really not having a care in the world.

That girl was much different from the 10 year older version of herself.

Today I don't care about celebrities.  Sure I find them entertaining at times, when they do something outrageous {I'm looking at you, Miley}, but I'm not buying all the gossip magazines at the checkout stand anymore.  I'm not spending my full paycheck {minus my car payment} on clothes. I still have a love for music but I don't get to listen to it as much as I listen to My Little Pony.  I never worked out and ate whatever I wanted {those were the days}.  I love the friends that I have now and my best friends haven't changed from when I was twenty, so thankful for that.

Now instead of living without a care in the world I worry about mortgage payments, nap schedules, preschool pickup/drop off, making it to church on time, frozen pipes in the dead of winter, replacing batteries in the dogs collars so they don't wonder into the street, working out and eating healthy.  A lot has changed in 10 years, for the better.

If I could go back and tell that twenty-year-old Shannon one thing it'd be to slow down. Stop waiting for the next big thing to happen and just enjoy the now. You will get married, you will have babies and they will both be worth the wait.  Trust me on that one.  Stop spending all your money frivolously and for the love of God please do not open any credit cards.  I'd tell her to live a little.  Stop playing it safe so much and get out there and see things, DO things.  Be more confident.

People say you live your life in your twenties and those are the best years of your life.  The last 4ish years of my twenties were pretty great but the early twenties?  I wouldn't trade my thirty-year-old self for the girl I was then.  The girl/woman I am today is stronger, more confident, more capable, smarter, more loving, softer than I was 10 years ago.

I think the twenty-year-old Shannon would be pretty happy with the person she's become. She has all she ever dreamed of and all she ever wanted.  What's not to love?

6 comments:

  1. Unbelievable!! This is so true, and a great way to look at things in a different light…
    My silly self 10 years ago was so so different and I am also super happy with how things have turned out.

    Well done mama, you can be so proud of your past 10 years, and here's to the next FABULOUS 10 years!
    x

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  2. Definitely true. I've sort of hit that stage where I no longer want to be older and am now lamenting not being younger. It's a weird place to be and every adult was right about growing up too fast.

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  3. Sounds like you read the novel "What Alice Forgot" :) I loved that book and thought about it too- forgetting everything. How horrible it would be for me, still in college, still worried about so many unimportant things! I'd tell myself to slow down too.

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  4. Love this! And it's so true! Time flies, and while my life is TOTALLY different, I'm so glad that it is!

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  5. Girl. I'd have to slap 18 year old Whitney silly.

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  6. I definitely agree! I wouldn't go back to my early twenties self!

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