A Look Back on This Decade

Wow. Reflecting on the past decade, I cannot believe all that has happened. I started this decade as a freshman in high school. Young, naive and scared of the future. I had no clue what was going to happen. My life looks completely different than young Cami ever thought and I couldn’t be happier.

Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s happened this decade:

Started & graduated high school (Valedictorian)
Started & graduated college (Magna Cum Laude)
Worked 10+ internships
Landed two dream jobs in Chicago
Launched my blog (two different ones!)
Got a tattoo
Got engaged
Got married
Traveled to 22 new countries
Got my license and first car
Turned 16, 18 and 21
Became an official resident in a state away from my parents
Lived on my own
Lived with a boy
Lived with roommates

In 2009/2010, I started high school. To say my freshman year was a rollercoaster is an understatement. I started with cheer and ended up quitting cheer in the spring of 2010 (after nearly four years of it being my whole life). There were lots of rumors and drama that year as well. It got really bad. But by the end of the school year, things had settled down, I had solid friendships and was ready to be a better person because of it. High school in general is a rollercoaster and in 2013 I finally graduated. I was on to my next adventure…in Texas…thousands of miles from my parents…at TCU.

High School Graduation…I wore real shoes for the actual ceremony lol

TCU was hands-down the best decision of my life. I had so many incredible experiences - from joining a sorority (Alpha Delta Pi), to working football games and going to the Peach Bowl, to traveling around the world (Europe, Panama, Ethiopia), to just being in college and interning at different places. I look back on those four years and I lived life so much in those years. There’s also that detail of meeting my now husband, which is just icing on the cake. In 2017, I graduated college and moved on to my next adventure - Chicago.

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Within the first week of moving to Chicago, I landed my first full-time job at a PR agency. A few weeks later I turned 21 and officially became an Illinois resident. I made new friends, I learned how to be an adult, learned how to live with a boy, oh and Jake and I were engaged so we started wedding planning.

In the past few years in Chicago, I have learned so much about myself. I’ve learned my worth, my value, my values, my priorities and have grown into who I am.

This whole decade was spent becoming who I am. It was high school and college and my first years as an adult. It was heartbreak and heartaches and friendships and breakups and drama and tears and joy and live and love and laughter and rumors and everything else that life throws at you. I have spent 10 years growing and changing and evolving. I am sitting here today so happy with the woman I have become. I am who I am. And as I head into the next decade, I’m so ready to LIVE in that person. I’m no longer becoming, I am. I am ready to live and be who I am and be wholly confident in that person. Yes, I will continue to grow and change, but for the most part, my personality and my values are locked in.

Thank you to this past decade. Thank you for breaking my heart and repairing it over an over again. Thank you for making me strong. Thank you for making me resilient. Thank you for making me into Cami Bartel.

2020, bring it on.