To the Girl Who’s Not Doing What She Wanted to Do When She Grew Up

I was the girl who was going to sip lattes in vibey coffee shops as she wrote books. I was the girl who was going to be approached by a publishing company because it fell in love with her story. I was the girl who was going to make tons of money as a successful writer for Christian outlets and publications.

Yet this is the girl I am:

I’m the girl who’s sat in a noisy coffee shop as she’s plunked the keys on her keyboard, stared at the couples surrounding her, and lost the motivation she thought she had. I’m the girl who’s reached out to multiple literary agents and been rejected or ignored by all of them. I’m the girl who’s made approximately $60 as an unknown writer for a single Christian magazine. In short, I’m the girl who wanted to be an author but isn’t an author.

The Girl You Were Going to Be and the Girl You Actually Are

• You were the girl who was going to attend culinary school and become a chef in Paris. Instead, you’re the girl who works as a waitress at a local diner.
• You were the girl who was going to take ballet lessons through college and become a prima ballerina. Instead, you’re the girl who’s scheduled for knee surgery and cleans the locker rooms at a gym.
• You were the girl who was going to learn floristry and open a cute flower shop. Instead, you’re the girl who mows lawns and trims thorny bushes for your brother’s landscaping business.
• You were the girl who was going to polish her musical talent and become a popular artist. Instead, you’re the girl who posts YouTube videos of yourself singing in your bedroom.
• You were the girl who was going to major in health science and eventually open your own physical therapy practice. Instead, you’re the girl who massages your hubby’s feet after he runs—and your own feet after you walk.
• You were the girl who was going to become a world-class pediatrician. Instead, you’re the girl who wipes snotty noses and sticks Band-Aids on bruised knees at a daycare.

You know that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with waitressing, working at a gym, landscaping with your brother, making YouTube videos, being your husband’s personal massage therapist, or playing with kids at daycare. But you didn’t expect life to turn out this way. You didn’t think that your dreams would get crushed so quickly.

Life Will Probably (Not) Turn Out the Way You Expect

What did you want to be when you grew up? And what did you end up becoming when you grew up? Is there something that you still hope to become, even though you’re “all grown up”?

I recently realized that I’m technically “all grown up” now, yet I’m not what I wanted to be. And that’s a really bitter pill to swallow for dreamers like me to swallow. We expect a lot from ourselves, and when we don’t meet our high expectations, we feel like failures. Our dreams are great, but so are our disappointments.

I have to believe that there’s a reason for our disappointments—that we didn’t become what we wanted to be when we grew up for some purpose.

But God Still Has a Good Plan

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB)

First of all, there’s still time for you to become what you wanted to be when you grew up. Your dreams don’t have to die. You can keep pursuing them. Second of all, God may have better plans for you than becoming what you wanted to be when you grew up. There’s a time to dream new dreams. You can let go of the old dreams.

Friends, God is working in your life right now—whether you’re a famous rock star or a retail cashier making minimum wage. Don’t give up on Him because life turned out differently than you’d originally planned. Your dreams may still happen, but His plans for you are bigger than any of your dreams.