Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

5 years ago I’m not really sure where I saw myself being, I didn't have a plan, I was just preparing for when the last child left home and I could focus on us and my career. I was living in the UK, 2 years into a career in Child Protection and Lecturing, the 2^nd child left home leaving only the then 11 and 15 year old at home. I was studying for a degree in Psychology and Criminology in order to fulfill and enhance my career until the last child reached 18 and left home. I was talking to my husband about the possibilities of moving up north, Manchester area, after the 2^nd youngest finished his GCSE’s in 2011 and moving the youngest out of Private School back into mainstream to free up my salary allowing us to travel more often and improve our quality of life.

All I really knew was I’d still have a child at home in 2014 and for the next 3 years until he finished school.

In September 2010 all the plans changed for we were asked to move to South Africa with my husbands job and on January 19^th 2014 we will have been here for 3 years. Husband isn’t on a contract, so this is a permanent move until we are told otherwise, either by the company or the government if it refuses to renew our visas.

Based on all the information that was requested from us and never having lived abroad, we trusted the information given to us in regards to work and education and moved lock, stock and barrel 6000 miles from home.

And there the 5 year plan ended, at the end of year 1. I had to give up my studies because of lack of internet and all the issues we had when we arrived as the support offered vanished upon arrival. The youngest left home in August 2013 and returned to boarding school in the UK because the education system here doesn’t support Dyslexic students and I’m still unable to work. The 2^nd youngest now nearly 19 leaves home on January 10^th, like his older siblings before him and all the children will be back in the UK, in fact apart from Hubby and I, our entire families will be 6000 miles away.

I have a new 5 year plan, it involves the following although I can’t guarantee hubbies job won’t take us somewhere else, so my plan involves things that I can do from anywhere I live, in no particular order:

• ·         Finish my degree

• ·         Travel and spend as much time as finances permit in the UK visiting the kids and families

• ·         Continue to build on my CV through volunteer work

• ·         Seek employment based in the UK that I can do from anywhere I live to fund the travel

• ·         Finish writing my book and actively seek a publisher

• ·         Seek sponsorship through my blog to fund my volunteer work

Do you have a plan? Does it keep changing? What things make it change? Health? Finances? I'd love to hear from you.