If I wasn't myself... If I wasn't Rebecca Fadler, an English major at Michigan State University in the honors college who drives a Jeep Cherokee, often with a 100 pound lab in the passenger seat, I have a lot of dreams about who I would be instead.

1. I'd be a hippie

I know, how Coachella of me, but I'd really love to be a hippie. I love the idea of not worrying about the real world. I would love to not have an established home but drive around in a van from beach to beach with my friends, singing songs at camp fires and making s'mores and sleeping under the stars. The serenity of being a hippie and living in nature is what appeals to me.

2. I'd learn to surf and skateboard

Piggy backing off of my dreams of being a hippie, I'd love to live near the beach, ride my skateboard down to the water and spend the day surfing. There is something so serene and calming about the crashing of the waves.

3. I'd move to Ireland and heard sheep

It is a dream of mine to live in Ireland. The pictures online of mountains and cliffs and fields full of wild flowers really appeal to me, and while I don't know anything about sheep and I'm pretty sure they smell bad *sigh* I love the idea of having a job that allows me to be out in nature, experiencing my surroundings and making friends with fluffy white beasts.

5. I'd be a marine biologist and study sharks

It just recently was shark week y'all a.k.a. the best week of TV watching all year. I really, really love sharks. My favorite kind is the Great White closely followed by the cookie cutter. I don't know what it is but I find them so fascinating and it is a life long dream of mine to go cage diving off the coast of South Africa because that is where the Great Whites are. If I was not pursuing a degree in English and I didn't find science so difficult to learn, I would definitely major in marine biology, move to Australia, and study ocean life.

6. I'd be a physical therapist

As someone who has had their fair share of sports related injuries and other various injuries due to their own stupidity, I have spent a pretty decent chunk of time in physical therapy and will probably have to do so for the rest of my life. But, I'm actually pretty cool with that, I really love physical therapy. In my opinion, the people who do it for a living are angels, and I'd love to be among them.

7. I'd volunteer more

I actually volunteer a lot, but I always feel like I could do more for my community. If I wasn't myself, I'd find more ways to reach out to my community and I would run for e-board positions in clubs instead of just joining as a member.

8. I'd actually run instead of just taking long walks

I am the queen of monkey diddling (something my grandma used to say to mean "messing around") on long walks instead of running and getting my heart rate up. I just love taking my lab for 6 mile nature walks and we like to stop and smell the roses, but I know I really should run in order to be healthier.

9. I'd read more

As an English major I always feel like I should read more than I actually do.

10. I'd be a singer and not just in my bathroom

I love to sing but have never had lessons despite all the other instruments I played as a kid so, I'm not very good at it. If I wasn't so busy being me, I'd sing in more than just my car.

11. I'd actually be fluent in French

My French is fine, I can communicate with foreign speakers pretty decently but my written French can be pretty rough and I am not by any means fluent so if I wasn't me, I'd spend more time mastering French and taking up other languages like Italian, Greek, Latin, and Spanish and I'd use my languages to travel.

While I am a person who doesn't try to change too much about myself in order to love myself completely, I do have a lot of dreams as to what I would do if I wasn't myself and while obviously I can not pursue all of them, I work to incorporate all of my dreams into the life I do have. While financially, I can't live out of a van and be a hippie forever, I hope to have a travel blogging, hippie, writing phase at some point after college or possibly on a study abroad trip. Maybe that trip will be in Ireland. I also hope that whatever career I pursue, I can at the very least live on a lake if not the beach and own a boat. While I can't drop my phone all together for safety reasons, I have been doing a lot more of leaving my phone at home or turning it off in order to really experience life. I dream of cage diving with sharks and will continue to have physical therapy in my life forever so I can live my dreams even if they are not my careers. I plan on volunteering on e-boards in a few organizations this year. While I may not start running any time soon, I am constantly in the pursuit of a healthier body; everyone has to start somewhere. In order to read more, I am finally reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë this summer. I will probably never be a singer because I do not like the idea of being famous (like, that's the only reason) but I will continue to sing in the shower. I am continuing to take French classes in college and hope to minor in it as well as start taking Italian classes. While I cannot devote my entire life to each of my dreams, that doesn't mean I can't live them.