They are on the brim of their young adulthood; their budding lives outside their family quickly approach and students are making some of the most important decisions of their lives. These decisions will inevitably affect the rest of their lives and colleges begging to have them and all their wonderful accomplishments. Teenagers are setting the stone for their own paths in their college decisions, their careers and the rest of their lives.
If there is one thing I always knew—even from a young age—it was that I wasn’t going to follow in anyone’s footsteps. I knew I would pave my own path, make my own name and my own success. You see, I wasn’t going to choose my career or my college education based on anyone else.
I had always been told I would carry on the tradition. I was told would continue the legacy at the college that over three generations of my family have received their education from. But instead, I became the black sheep of my family. I became known as the one kid in the family who didn’t do what everyone else did. I wasn’t in love with that school. I wasn’t in love with their tradition, that town, or that major. I didn’t love the food, the perks, or the “college town feel” that it offered. So I didn't go there.
But that’s okay.
It’s okay to do something for yourself and no one else.
I chose not to go to that college. I chose to go to school four hours away from everything I had ever known—from everyone I had ever known. I chose my own school, my own major, my own career, and my own life. I didn’t follow in my parent’s footsteps or my family’s.
But that’s okay, too.
In the almost two years since I have made that decision, I haven’t regretted it once. I don’t regret choosing the college that was right for me—and not for anyone else. I don’t regret not following in the footsteps of my cousins or not sharing the same passion that they do.
I have made my own path and I’m okay with that.
I am okay with my failures, my faults, and my successes.
But you see, that isn’t the point. The point is not about college decisions. It’s about so much more than that. I have made my own way. I didn’t have a familiar hand to hold when freshman year got rough, I couldn’t quickly drive home when I needed laundry done. I couldn’t run back to my house when I needed anything. My success has been solely on me. I didn't have daddy's job to help or my last name to get me somewhere.
Going away taught me so much more about life. That there is so much more to life outside of my small hometown. There is so much more to this life that has yet to be experienced.
My point is that it’s okay to choose college for yourself or to choose your own career. This isn't about college acceptance letters. This is about letting kids grow up on their own. Letting them choose their own path and their own failures and their own successes.
It’s okay to choose your own life.
Get out and experience the great big world around you. Make mistakes. Fail once. Succeed twice.
Make your own path—it’s the only thing you can guarantee yourself. Don’t let anyone take that away.
