Where will you be in 5 years?

That standard question that gets asked on interviews, well maybe not anymore due to the present workforce being so fluid and mobile, do employers still expect them to be around in 5 years, let alone increasing in their industriousness, production and ambition? I always figured that was the reason they asked the question, to kinda test is this a keeper or not, one who can see the big picture, who is all in and there for the long haul. I wonder if they still ask it? Sounds like it would be pretty easy to answer; just throw around something like you see yourself in 5 years as “expert in the field you are applying for”, maybe tell them you are planning on a Master’s degree in that area to enhance what you can give to and do for the company etc. yadda yadda. It has been a long time since I have been asked that question, but I was asked it on my job interview many years ago. I did say a master’s degree and I did get it - it took 7 years, (so sue me I was two years late). I am not the ambitious type, not in my work life, I am a follower not a leader. That is okay, we all have our strengths. But I do commit to the long haul, being an "all in" kinda girl I have been at NShealth for 20 years.

I love asking myself this question about my personal life. When I do it helps me to gauge where I am at in my life’s journey. Sometimes I have answered, “no fucking where that’s where” and shut that little questioner in me down bloody quick. That is usually when I see no hope for my future or I don’t want to look at it. After a death you feel this, it’s just way too painful to look beyond the seconds and the minutes of unbearable grief and it takes much time to heal enough to be able to look into the future, especially years into the future. But I have been asking myself this question lately. Where do you see yourself in 5 years Sussey? So I think about my answer. Today I feel pretty confident in the answers I would give me the interviewer, but as I know life is in a constant state of flux and tomorrow I may have to come up with a whole new set of answers. Currently, here a few things I do see about where I will be in 5 years.

I will be retired, I will not be working the ole 8-4 anymore. Oh I’m way too young to not work, it just won’t be this work. It will be working my creativity – writing, photography and who knows what else I will love to do that is new and creative, but I will be working on that. (sometimes for pay so I can take those skills into the Tuscan countryside once a year). Yes I can accomplish this in 5 years, sure I can.

I will still have my Pax. I take care of him well with his food and medical checkups, he’ll only be 10. He will be a little slower getting the Frisbee, graying around the whiskers but he’ll still be laying around on his bed and mine in those weird contortions he puts his furry body into and making me laugh. I think I have 5 more years to be able to give him lots of my love. I see that.


Spending time at my cottage by the sea, my serenity acre. The space all finished and inviting and warm and beautiful with breezy afternoons to feel the ocean and sparkling water to gaze upon. My hard work today will pay off over these next 5 years as I sit and sleep and enjoy my time with my wonderful friends at that special space. It’s a big part of where I am going to be over the next 5 years for sure.

I will enjoy cooking and be able to do it for myself. I will eat right, I will feel like I deserve to. I will feel a comfort in the kitchen that I have not felt in many many years. I won’t be afraid to get groceries. (I notice I am not expanding on this one??) It may be the one I fudge on in the interview.

I will be with someone who loves me and whom I can love. This is a new and pleasing thought to have, I don’t know how or when this will happen but hey I’m gonna put it out there. I deserve love and have lots to offer so why the fuck not. I guess just thinking about being in this place when the 5 years from now question is asked, is growth, because after Terry died, I always saw myself well into late life having to live it alone and lonely. I don’t believe that anymore. I can have a lasting love. I can do this (sans fucking POF) in the next 5 years, sure I can.


I will be able to accept loss, disappointment, pain and hardships (both my past and future ones) much easier 5 years from now. Having been there done that and got the sweatshirt, pants and winter coat, I am learning. There is much more to learn over the next 5 years I am sure but, I seem to be a wide open pupil in this area, so I know the acceptance of this only becomes easier. In fact, sometimes I amaze myself at how calmly I can accept big disappointment and pain now. I also see myself 5 years wiser in 5 years. In this area we don’t go backwards, only forward. I believe that. Wisdom, that lovely gift of age, will be mine. I have earned it.


I’d hire her.