The next 5
(quick update: I’m now back in Bellingham, by the way. [That] did happen.)
The best part about turning 30 in a couple weeks is that I get to make a new, only-second-ever Five-Year Plan.
It also means I can officially end my first 5-year plan, finally– made on the 15th of December 2006, the day I turned 25. That one, looking back, was all about finding a solid path & becoming a fully independent adult, e.g. choosing an enjoyable lifestyle, forging a confident personal identity, and paying back the money I’d owed to my family.
Funny thing is, in terms of the specific goals I’d laid down for myself, I failed spectacularly.
(My original 5-year goals as stated were: #1 Pay off all debt to zero. #2 Finish my Bachelor’s degree and become a professional scientist. #3 Get married. Start a family. #4 Buy a sailboat and learn how to sail it. #5 Thru-hike the Pacific Crest Trail.)
At age 25– alone, living in the snow-buried wilderness of [Coles Corner, WA] and working for the ski area at Stevens Pass, having just moved north from Arizona– I was at a place in my life where I needed to convince myself that awesome times were still ahead. So I dreamed big and aimed high.
Around mid-2008, getting comfortable in Bellingham, I started to let those goals slide away. I conceded that I didn’t have the income potential to own a sailboat, nor any true desire to be a husband & father. I discovered that completing two more years of college would’ve required 30 years of student loans, and even the few quarters I attended before I bailed have put me farther into debt than when I started. (I did pay-off all the money I owed to my family, though. Still pretty proud about it.)
In hindsight, any one of those goals could’ve taken 5 years to accomplish on its own. Naming five was over-ambitious. Hiking the PCT was the one goal I was still working towards right up into 2011. Tried to make it happen this summer, but turns out I wasn’t quite ready.
Bigger picture, though: I think these last five years have been a great success. I’ve gotten involved with the organic foods movement; it’s set me on a new path in life that I enjoy. I’ve met a bunch of new friends that have become completely indispensable to me. I’ve just straight-up had a ton of fun. These last 5 have been the best years of my life. That’s the real beauty of a five-year plan. Even if you fall short, your life still ends up better.
So you’re probably wondering: what’s next? I’ve learned my lesson my first go-round and decided to focus on only one goal instead of five. Here it is:
GOAL: By age 35, I will found a business.
An organic foods business, specifically. Being a miller’s assistant at Fairhaven Mill was the best job I’ve had. I now know a lot about how to make flour. I know a little about tending a greenhouse and little bit about making almond butter. What I don’t know enough about is how to start and run a company. That’s what’s next.
Bellingham is well ahead of the curve when it comes to local organic food, but even this community is going to need many more businesses like Fairhaven Flour if it’s going to survive and thrive through the rocky, post-Peak-Oil decades to come. Not just more flour mills– I wouldn’t want to directly compete with Fairhaven anyway– but independent businesses of all kinds. Who is going to found them if not passionate, naive thirty-somethings like me?
I still want to continue towards getting myself off-grid, too. I still want to pay my debts, and learn to sail, and hike the PCT. But I’m willing to wait on all of those things or move them to the background while I focus on getting a business off the ground.
I’ve now got some huge, unknown numbers of further decisions and plans ahead of me. Five years to figure it out.
Cross your fingers. Let’s go.
