I am the girl that wanted to be a singer, fashion designer, princess when I was a little. I had my vision board all ready for me to execute thoroughly in order to make my dreams come true. That was until I was thrown into the real world and realized that those are not exactly the most promising careers unless I started at the age of 4. It is a competitive world for jobs in general so wanting to make it in the fashion industry was a long shot. Eventually, I had to start thinking about the bigger picture and what I really want to do in order to make a living.
Freshman year of college, I was basically thrown on campus knowing that ISU was THE school for teaching so obviously I decided to major in Elementary Education. I have always heard that you get a job right out of college and basically have your life in order. It was a pretty manageable major and I really liked the thought of teaching at a young level because the younger the kids the more fun they are to teach. I was doing so well and really thought this was a good decision for me. That was until I had my first college student crisis.
I was sitting in my Special Education class and realized that I really did not know if I wanted to be a teacher. I do not know what sprung that but it started to really stress me out. Going into teaching right now is not the greatest career because it can be hard to find a job at a good school and the pay that teachers get is very low. I believe that as long as you do what you love, pay does not matter...but in a teacher's world, I believe it does. I just was not sure if that was truly what I wanted to do.
After calling my dad and giving it much thought, I decided to switch my major. I went into school also thinking about Psychology. As someone with a background in therapy, I felt as though that was a possible career move for me in order to give back and help people going through some of the same situations as me. I really felt like it was something that would challenge me, make me happy, and also help me live comfortably. But with Psychology, comes with a competitive field and many, many different routes. You can do a lot with a bachelor's degree but in order to do what I want to do, well, that takes YEARS of school. Is that really what I want to do?
The answer to that is, I think. That is as honest as I can be. Do I want to be in school until I am 28? Not really but it will get me to where I want to be and if I am going to love what I am doing then why not go the extra mile. I freaking out about 8 years of extra school because I am the person who wants to travel, have kids young, get married young, all of that. I really thought I could not do that while in school and turns out I was wrong. My dad is a perfect example of doing everything you want in life while being in school. He got married, built a house, and have two kids all while going to Law school. Anything is possible!
So yes, I will most likely be going to school until I am 28 and no I will not be missing out on everything around me because school is not a barrier between me and the rest of the world. I will be pursuing what I love, traveling when I can, and creating a family when the time is right. The big picture does not have to be JUST school...all the minor and (some) major details fit right along with it.
