Even if we might not realize it, we're constantly changing through life. Ever since we are little, we're constantly being asked what we aspire to, what we want to be when we grow up. One day we want to be an astronaut, the next a famous singer, and the day after that a doctor. This goes on to high school, but now there's a difference: we have to choose what it will be. I remember when we were the excited but scared sophomores that were choosing courses for the next TWO YEARS OF OUR LIVES. At that point in my academic life, I was dying to become a doctor, more specifically a surgeon. Deep down, I knew I wanted to take the IA rather than the IB, but after talking to one of my then role-models that was studying psychology, I decided to do the IB and take courses that I knew I would need for med school, regardless of it being around SIX YEARS AWAY. The start of second semester junior year came along and I knew I had made a terrible decision. I felt that I had become a robot: wake up, go to school, sit in a class, go back home, study, sleep, repeat. But I was a robot that was suffering from loss of energy and motivation who's engine was about to sputter and die. However, the end of junior year marked one of the biggest changes of my life to date: the switch to the IA. This change made me realize that the choices I want to make in life, for the most part, should be based on me at that moment, what motivates me and what I truly want. I didn't need to take HL psych, bio and chem in order to become a doctor. I could take any route I wanted to in order to get to my goal. There was nothing set in stone. However, my dream changed too and it's one of the many changes that will happen in my life. Many people I know are going off to college knowing what they want to study, and most of them have known for the longest time. However, I also know many people who have no idea what they want to do. For them it's kind of like jumping into the unknown. They might say they're interested in something and are going to try to pursue it in college. When college comes around, they end up changing and changing, getting to a point where they don't even know what they're aiming for anymore. It suddenly hits them that they have to declare a major, and they just declare what they're studying at that moment, probably without ever feeling extremely passionate about it. However, there is no set course to follow in life. There are no rules saying that the courses you have to study in high school need to be linked to what you want to study. There is not set rule that you can't take a gap year or that you HAVE to stick to what you applied to college for. There isn't even a rule that says you have to go to college. I was reading DD's blog from last week and I say Corey's comment that was asking if college was more important than experience. This immediately made me think of my brother Pepe who was enrolled in Hampshire College but decided to take the semester off. However, the short time that he was in college, what he most valued and enjoyed was working in the blacksmith shop and creating pieces for his car. This is what I consider experience over everything else. He now plans on taking a car drawing course for a month in Italy and then a composite materials course in Rhode Island, which makes him employable once it finishes. He didn't use to have a plan, now he has one for about 8 months and I haven't seen him much happier than this before. Pepe is my prime example of taking the unconventional route to get to his final destination. In the end, we should have a plan, we should have a goal, a dream, job but we're constantly changing. Nothing is set in stone and we can take any route we want in order to get to our final destination. We should have an idea of what we want to aspire to be, but who's to say that that will never change.
1 Comment
Andrea H
5/3/2015 05:04:38 am
F!! I really like your opening it hooks many type of audience, and I think all of us can relate.
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Author"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Archives
June 2015
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