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5 Things I Swore I Would Never Do... and Did.


Are there things in your life that you swore you would never do and later landed up doing? I know that I've had quite a few of these moments, and I think life has a funny way of showing us "You want to bet?" Down below, you'll see a list of my five things that I swore I'd never do... and did. 

1.Be a nurse 
I come from a long line of nurses and doctors. My Grandma was a nurse for 40 years and I remember staying home from school with her when I was sick. She would always ask me, "Sarah do you feel like vomiting?" I would tell her, "Grandma, first it's called puking not vomiting, and second why do you care so much?" My brothers and I would cough once and Grandma would immediately ask, "Are you coming down with a cold?" No Grandma, I just swallowed something wrong. I still remember her giving my Dad penicillin shots in the back bedroom, and the stories she would tell were absolutely revolting. I swore that I would never become a nurse- gross! 


{this was my first day as a real nurse!}

15 years later and I am a registered nurse that uses the word vomit on a regular basis and tells my fair share of gross stories at the dinner table. Alex starts sniffling and I ask him if he's catching a cold. I became my Grandma, even though I swore I never would be. {More on nursing here}. 

2. Get married before I was 28 
One of the first blog posts I ever wrote talked about how I had my life planned out from the time I was 18 until I was 28. My plans included going to nursing school, working as a nurse overseas, going to grad school to become a nurse practitioner, and getting married no sooner than age 28.


Once again, God showed me that he had different plans for my life and I found myself tying the knot when I was barely 22. This six year difference was a huge change that both my parents and I had to accept. My prior planning and set wedding age partially explains why Alex and I dated for 3 years  and knew each other for 4 before getting married. I don't regret getting married at 22 at all, and when the day came I was absolutely ready for it. A series of miracles (that you can start reading here), served to show me that my wedding day was chosen and ordained for me long before I was even born. I laugh at my 18 year old foolishness in thinking that I could plan my life down to the year, and I try to remember that when I get ahead of myself now and try to put a timeline on kids, graduate school, and houses. 

3. Never play the piano {again}
Y'all I was a rebel. I had started taking piano lessons when I was 5, and somewhere in the next 6 years gotten good enough that my parents (especially my Dad) really enjoyed it when I played. However, when I turned 11 (my rebellious year), I swore off playing the piano ever again. Not because I didn't enjoy it- I did enjoy it. But my Dad enjoyed it too, and in one of my biggest acts of rebellion to date, I swore off playing the piano so that my Dad wouldn't be able to enjoy me playing. 

Terrible right? I held true to that promise and for an entire year our piano stayed untouched. But then I got the wisdom of a 12 year old and started playing again and haven't stopped since. I was lucky enough to accompany my high school choir on certain pieces and even got paid in college to accompany a couple of plays. Now, I spend a lot more time blogging than I do playing the piano but I know it will always be there when I decide to come back to it {you can hear a clip of me playing here}. 

4. Live in a big city 
I grew up in small town Colorado. The town I grew up in was about 15,000 people and I lived 45 minutes away from there on 35 acres with a driveway that has made more than one grown man cry. Growing up I loved the stars and stillness that came with living in the country, but hated how long it would take to get home and how hard it was to get together with friends. Despite my love-hate relationship with rural living, I could never ever see myself living in a big city. When I moved to Colorado Springs in 2009 for college, I figured that this would be the biggest I would get. 440,000 people and traffic jams {not caused by tractors} took awhile to get used to. The thought of living in a bigger city never appealed to me and I swore I would never do it.


Fast forward five years later where I found myself moving to Denver, the capital of Colorado, and a city of 650,00 (not including surrounding suburbs). In a matter of years I had traded stars for skyscrapers in my night skyline and the smell of exhaust for the smell of sagebrush. I used to barely be able to get the Denver Nuggets basketball games to come in on my radio as I did my homework at home, and now I lived half an hour away from the stadium. While I will say that living in a big city has been an adjustment, moving to Denver has been a really good move and Alex and I have enjoyed ourselves a lot. While I don't see myself settling down in a place this big, it has been really fun for this stage in our lives and once again I learned to never say never. 

5. Go camping or hiking by choice 
As a born and raised Coloradoan, this may surprise you but I hated hiking and camping when I was younger. My family did it a lot so you think that I would have learned to love it. I usually found myself lonely on camping trips- my brothers would do their thing, my parents would be old and nap, and I would be left on my own to read or find something else to do. 

I didn't get the point of hiking- I saw it as a lot of walking for nothing. Then one summer, my family went hiking, got caught in the pouring rain, and my mom and I got separated from my Dad and brothers. Several hours later, we reunited and made it back to the car soaking wet and hungry. That was the last straw for me. I vowed I would never ever choose to put myself through the misery of camping or hiking.

{this was me at the top of my first 14er- a mountain over 14,000 feet}

Fast forward a decade and camping is one of my favorite things to do. There is something about the smell of pines and campfire smoke, the rawness of not showering and sleeping on the dirt that I love. Last summer was the first time I had gone camping without my Mom and I realized how much hard work it is (trying to remember to pack soap, paper towels, and cooking utensils is exhausting!) Maybe it's because I live in the city now or maybe it's because now I have a camping buddy (Alex), that it's grown on me. Maybe it's because I've traveled the world and come to realize that Colorado is just as pretty as almost any other place out there. Regardless, I'm now a camper and the hiking part of me is coming along. Never say never my friends. 

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My whole life has been full of my plans that have changed and redirected in ways that I could have never expected. The Bible says that "the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). Ain't that the truth? Be careful with what you wish for or don't wish for friends- you might get just the opposite :) 

What things have you swore you would never do and did? Have you learned (like I have) that life doesn't go as planned?


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27 comments :

  1. You are hysterical--the driveway that made more than one grown man cry. Haha and I love this list!! I love how we think we can plan our lives out (I always wanted to be an English teacher, so naturally I now teach Spanish! Good one, God!). Also, yay for city living! You rebel! Haha not that I live in the actual city limits of philly, but living close by really does make so many things convenient.

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  2. Love this! We all have those things we swore we'd never do...and I think we all say we aren't going to be our mom/grandma!

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  3. I swore I would never get an iPhone! Joke's on me now ;)

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  4. I love this!! Funny how we declare never and that exact thing happens! Visiting from Tuesday Talk!

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  5. I love this post! Such a fun idea! I'm sure I could come up with a long list as well!!! I try to be careful with my 'never' and 'always' statements because of this reason!

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  6. Congrats on defeating all of your "I will nevers...." I have a few myself, but none quite so adventerous! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. Love this a lot! It make me think about what sorts of things I have sworn off, and how great God's plans always are! Have a great week!

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  8. I love this post idea! You never know what you'll actually end up doing and loving!

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  9. This is a fun post! Oh, how many times have we eaten those "I will never…" words?? :) I said I would never have kids or buy a house before we bought a boat. I even had the name picked out. Our kid is in college, and we are on house number two…and have never, ever owned any type of watercraft, not even a paddle board!

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  10. We should never say never - because that is exactly what we will do. And yes, if find it hard to believe you are a native of Colorado and didn't always like hiking or camping (I thought it was required) :-)

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  11. I am the same way with hiking! My parents are huge fans of hiking and as a kid, that's how we spent a lot of our Saturday mornings. But then middle/high school hit and it was no longer "cool" to hang out with your parents and I also didn't find it exciting or interesting so I stayed home. But college hit and I started to actually enjoy being with my parents (for the most part, haha) and with my camera and dog in tow, hiking became my most favorite hobby yet. So glad we both gave it another shot!


    Also, I loooove this post idea. Just brilliant!

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  12. That is so funny that you were going to be an English teacher- that's quite the switch God! And it is really convenient, I just could do without the traffic lol. And my driveway is the real deal ;)

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  13. oh my gosh YES. I said that I wouldn't be like my mom and I already see similarities- and I don't even have kids yet!

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  14. Glad I'm not the only one that's experienced this! Thanks for visiting! :)

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  15. It's so true Caroline! I catch myself thinking certain "never" things and I've gotta be careful! I would love to see your own list :)

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  16. It'd be interesting to hear a few on your list! :)

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  17. It'd be fun to see your own list! You have a great rest of your week too :)

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  18. That is absolutely hilarious!! How funny that that was your "I would never" in the first place! :)

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  19. I know right?? That and skiing... which I also don't do :O

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  20. My big one was daycare....from the time I was a teenager, I swore I would stay home with my kids. Fast forward 15 years, and I'm working in an industry that doesn't allow me to step away for 7 years, so my kids attend a wonderful day care daily. I've seen many of my worst fears about the situation be proven wrong, and both my boys love the time with their teachers and their friends. I'm glad my hand was forced, because this has become a wonderful new family for us!

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  21. This is so encouraging to me! I've thought I wanted to be a stay at home mom but I also don't actually know if it's what I REALLY want. It's wonderful to hear that the daycare situation has worked so well for you guys! :)

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  22. Isn't it funny the things we say we will never do and then we do them. I think that is God's way of humbling us.


    I always said I'd NEVER ever ever live in the nasty state of Oklahoma ... and then I moved to Oklahoma. ha ha!


    I think hiking has to be a learned enjoyment. Dave loves it much more than me but the more I go hiking with him the more I enjoy it. I have climbed Mt. Sneffles two times though! Have you climbed that 14'er yet!? It is harder but much prettier than Pike's Peak. Well, they are both pretty but there is something about Sneffles. Anyways, you should hike it!

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  23. haha you gotta love those things in life that God totally changes up! Such a comedian God is. And such ridiculous beings we are to think we control this life. :)

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  24. That is too funny that you referred to it as the "nasty" state of Oklahoma. God wanted to prove you wrong.
    I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that doesn't absolutely love hiking at first- I agree it is a learned enjoyment. That's awesome you've climbed Sneffels twice! I'm the only one in my family that hasn't climbed it but it's on my list!

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  25. God has a sense of humor for sure. And it's amazing that no matter how many times He shows me that He's in control I still try to do it myself...one day we'll learn right?!

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