In 2010, I was a newlywed, living in a tiny old apartment in northern Virginia pursuing my master’s degree. My husband worked nights as a security guard for a Ford warehouse while I tried to figure out what direction to go in life. The impact of the 2008 recession had sidelined my plans to teach music in the public schools, but I was regrouping and adjusting my path.
I was unsure of many things in that season. What I wanted to do with my life, what I was good at, even what I liked and how I wanted to express myself.
At that time, I really hadn’t developed a personal style, my self-esteem was fragile at best and I was still figuring out what to do with my hair. Meanwhile, I was surrounded by a close-knit family of graduate students, faculty and church leaders that embraced each other just as we were, holding space for each other to figure it all out.
As we close this decade, I am astonished at how much has changed from the beginning to the end. Very little in my life looks the same one decade later, and much of the path has been unpredictable.
Colleen Cook works full-time as the Director of Operations at Vinyl Marketing in Ashland, where she resides with her husband Mike and three young daughters. She’s an insatiable extrovert who enjoys finding reasons to gather people.
Babies were born, family members passed away, we moved states, bought our first house and we changed jobs several times. Some friends have stayed close, while others have faded away and many new friendships have grown. We’ve learned, we’ve grown, we’ve improved and, of course, in some ways we’ve declined too. This decade has shaped us into who we are right now.
If you had described my life to me as it is right now at the start of the last decade, I would have wept with concern about how things had gone so askew of the plans I had for myself. Yet, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. My path led me to where I needed to go, led me through dark seasons, and as I look down the road as we enter a new year, a new decade, I see nothing but possibility ahead.
We can all benefit from reflection as we close out the past 10 years and begin a fresh decade. While 2020 is just a number, just another year, when we think about the amazing things that can happen and change over the course of a year—over the course of 10—it begs for us to pause and cast a vision.
As we close out 2019, I’m reflecting on how far I’ve come in the 2010s. I’m practicing gratitude for the unfathomable blessings along the way: the people who guided me, the family and friends who walked alongside me, the children we welcomed, the opportunities that arose, the finances that always worked out somehow.
Broadening my perspective to view this entire chapter in totality is awe-inspiring and is a welcome reminder that any problem I’m currently facing will be overcome; that anything I’m hoping for can be achieved.
Looking ahead to the 2020s, I’m asking myself: Who do you want to be? What do you need to leave behind? What do you really want out of this life? I’m not worrying about how to get there just yet, because I have learned that those paths unfold in steps, not in miles, but I’m welcoming the new decade with hope for what’s ahead, whatever that may be.
