Summer Camp: Day 4

I was about ready to scream this morning.  Baby would not go to sleep!  Every time we tried to put him down, he did everything but sleep.  It was very frustrating. 

Summer Camp day 4:  What has most surprised you about being an adult? What have you learned about yourself through blogging?

Read more: 31 Days of Blog Juice at Creating Motherhood http://creatingmotherhood.com/2011/06/28/summer-camp/#ixzz1R94uncQh

I am not sure what I expected about adulthood.  I think I expected my life to follow a specific path, and that I would be able to stay on that path.

I guess the most surprising thing about adulthood to me is having to handle the unexpected setback.

When I was younger, I thought I would go to medical school, be happily married with 2.5 kids by the time I was 30, and be able to balance it all.

About the only thing I did achieve was to be happily married by 30.  I did not go to medical school, I had my first child at the age of 36, and I still have not had the second.  (Though I want to try next year.)

 

I think I had problems coming to terms with not meeting my own expectations of my life.  I can be rather hard on myself and it was hard for me to deal with the changes in my journey.  I felt like a failure because not only I did not have children, I did not even have a job or career I enjoyed.  

 

I eventually got it together, but it was not what I envisioned when I was younger.  I found I did not even want the same things as I got older.  I went to nursing school and became a nurse.  I now have a career I adore.  After a decade of infertility, we finally were able to do IVF which lead to Little Guy.  (Who I also adore.)  Neither of these things were in my life plan.  I guess better late than never for some things.  And they did lead to happiness for me.  Just not what I envisioned when I was younger.

 

As I was coming to terms with my life, blogging gave me an outlet.  It made me feel like I was not alone, as I started to connect with other bloggers.  It became a place to record where I have been, and what I want for my life.  I learned that I can deal with where my life is headed, and I can handle whatever life throws at me.  Blogging helped me get underneath the emotion and figure out what is really going on.