10 Year Look Back

Not only is it the start of a new year, but a whole new decade! This prompted me to look back over the past 10 years at everything I’ve experienced and achieved over that time.

I’m a totally different person to who I was ten years ago, and I almost don’t recognise myself – in a good way. So todays post is about some of my bigger achievements and things I’ve learned over the past decade.

Left a negative relationship

In my late teens and early twenties I was in a very toxic relationship, which unfortunately lasted a fair few years. I’d reached a point where I knew I was desperately unhappy, but had been ground down so much I genuinely didn’t think I’d be able to make it on my own.

Taking the plunge and leaving was one of the best things I ever did. My friends along with the girls (and coaches) on the American Football team I played for at the time were fantastic, and it’s fair to say they played a huge part in getting me through what was a really tough time.

Got on the property ladder

It was a goal of mine to get on the property ladder before the age of 30. When I got out of my negative relationship, I was told that I would never manage it, and for a while it felt totally unachievable. Regardless, I worked all the extra hours I could and cut my spending back to scrape the savings together little by little. On my 25^th birthday I got my mortgage on my first flat agreed. I’d had to settle for a run down, bottom of the pile house, but it was mine and I’d proved to myself and everyone else that I could do it.

Since then, I’ve sold that flat, and the money I made from it was my half of the deposit for Mike and I to buy our first home together. Again, I was told that I wouldn’t be able to sell it for anything other than a loss and was stupid to be selling at the time I was. In the end it sold for over the asking price and I got exactly what I needed out of it. I even had money left over that meant we could decorate and furnish most of our new home.

Travel

I’ve managed to get a fair bit of travel under my belt in the last 10 years, but the biggest to mention is leaving my job to go travelling around America and Canada for 2 months. It was a once in a lifetime experience, and I highly doubt I’ll be in the financial position to do it again, but it is the source of some of my fondest memories.

Confidence

In my teens I was an extremely quiet and body conscious person. I would dress in a way that attract as little attention as possible, which usually meant baggy clothes almost always in black. When I look back at old photos I have no idea where this even came from as I was a small 8-10.

When I left high school and went to college my new friends worked the negative mentality out of me, and I’m forever grateful to them. I still wear a lot of black, mainly because it goes with everything, but I’m far more confident in myself and my appearance.

Found ‘the one’

After leaving my bad relationship I was single on and off for a little over a year. I wasn’t particularly interested in having a relationship and was happy to casually date without any real commitment. Until I met Mike. I think it’s true when they say you’ll find love when you stop looking for it.  

Now we have a happy life together, and in 6 months’ time we’re getting married. It’s weird to think that this year is our wedding year!

Learned that I can

Over the past decade I’ve been told “you can’t” far, far too much. I was told by my tutor that I wouldn’t pass college; I did. I was told I’d never be able to forge a good career for myself, that I wouldn’t be able to buy a house before the age of 30, that I’d never find someone who loved me.

I was told I would never be able to make money out of my first flat, told that I shouldn’t go travelling and that I wouldn’t be able to find a job when I got back home; I did, and it was a better job than the one I left! All the things I was told I couldn’t do, I did.

With that in mind I’m storming into the new decade with a totally different mind-set to the last. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past 10 years it’s that if someone tells you that you can’t do something, just say “watch me” and prove them wrong.