God, Life and other things.

So the other day I had an eye opening experience and because it was so ... momentous, I feel the need to share it.

As a 19 year old girl in her second year of university, I don't have my life together. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what path I'd like my life to follow and that's ridiculous. What's even more outrageous is the fact that I'm just now discovering that I don't have my affairs in order. I was always the girl who knew what she wanted to achieve; a 3.7 GPA, graduate with a first class honours bachelors degree, a successful entrepreneur, a successful marketer, a firm woman of God. But knowing where you want to go and what you want to do without planning for it is like being in a sinking ship. In said ship, you know you need to swim to safety (you know what you need to do) and you know that since you can't swim, you need swimming lessons (you know what needs to be done). But the point is, you. cannot. swim. So you need a plan:- who can teach you to swim? How quickly can you learn to swim? Do you really need to learn to swim or just to glide and kick? Your plan would answer all your questions and point you in the exact direction in which you want to go.

This analogy (given to me by an extremely wise friend) is exactly how we need to approach life. In light of my vast unpreparedness, I started to seriously plan my life; here are some of the key things I looked at:

1) Education & Career:
   - Where do I want to complete my masters degree?
   - What company and what position am I trying to get into when I graduate? (Or possibly before I graduate)
   - In terms of careers, do I have a plan B? C? D?

2) My spiritual Life
  - There is more that God requires of me, what is that 'more'?
  - How will I use my position in the church to impact the church?
  - How can my witness win more souls for Christ?

3) Relationships
  - Are my current friends a good support system for my future?
  - Do I see my current romantic relationship as the one that will develop into marriage?
  - At what age and stage of my life do I want to get married? Why?

There were a slew of other subtopics and questions but these are just to give an idea of how totally unfocused I was on life and of all the decisions that I am facing now and will be facing soon. So, honestly ... this was very frightening for me; y'know, coming into the realization that life is happening now and serious life choices are being made now. Ensure you're prepared for life. Try to make the right choices. Try to make informed choices. Try to make mature choices. Because the choices you make now are already affecting your future life.

If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.