What comes to mind when you think of the future?

According to Pinterest, the future consists of babies, marriages and mortgages. Or that’s what came up when I typed the word ‘future’ into the search box anyway.

As a twenty-three year old I can safely say the concept of future is something that I’ve been trying to escape ever since I graduated University two years ago at the age of twenty-one.

That is, the concept of future that is forced upon most twenty-something year olds these days anyway. It seems that everyone around me is getting engaged or expecting their first-born child. And myself? I’m still here gallivanting around the world; changing jobs and countries more often than I change my socks. Why is it that each time I talk to a friend from back ‘home’ I’m asked when I’m going to return, when I’m going to think about settling down and getting a mortgage, or when I’m going to get into a serious relationship and get married and have babies?…

Wait, let’s rewind for a second…. Have babies? Get married? Who even said that was on my list of to-do for my future? It’s a norm – and not one I care to adhere to.

It shocks most people when I tell them that I don’t actually want children. I mean, surely I will change my mind as I get older? Just because I’m twenty-three does not mean that I don’t know what I want from life. I’ve met fifty year olds that still don’t know what they want to be when they grow up. I’ve lived in five countries, visited at least fifteen more and have seen more cultures, languages and experiences than my entire family put together. All at the ripe age of twenty-three. People think I will stop as I start to get older – but my question is, why? Why do I need to stop moving countries because that’s what you’re supposed to do? No thank you.

I do not question your wants or needs to complete all these life milestones. So why question my want to not need all these milestones?

I shall keep my memories of obtaining my scuba-diving qualification in Koh Tao, Thailand and my near death experience as I got sniffed at by a dingo in the middle of the night whilst camping in the Aussie outback and I shall let you keep your dinners out and recorded TV series.

The world is a very large and diverse place so I will never stop encouraging people to quit their jobs and leave the country in search of something new and exciting, but for me, my future is mine and no-one will ever be able to tell me how to live it or what to do with it. Just know that whatever you decide for your own future, it is only yourself that is your own obstacle in life. No-one makes your future for you.