It seems like a majority of people know what their next step is going to be after they graduate. What their major, career or even their 10 year plan will be. However, most of the time, roughly about nine times out of ten, those plans usually don't work out. When I was a senior in high school last year, I was so sure about my future, going to one of my top two choices, major in Kinesiology with minors in Psychology and Neuroscience, graduate at the top of my class, go to medical school and become a doctor. I had it all planned it out, but the day that decisions came in, I opened up my decision letters of the two universities. I read the first words from both, "Dear Jessica Tran, We regret to inform you...". I didn't have to finish the sentence to already know what just happened. My heart sank; everything that I have worked for has gone down the drain. I felt like my life was over. Though the insane person I am, I still got into the other eight colleges that I applied to. However, I still felt like a failure. It took me awhile to get over myself and realize that my plan was not over; it just took a little detour and I still got into colleges.
Anyways, I kept thinking that it's going to be fine and I'll just transfer at the end of Freshman year. After convincing myself about this for months on end until the May 1st deadline, my sister got sick of me. One day, she said to me, straight up, "Why don't you give your other eight colleges a chance, you're not giving it a chance. You're already heading into college with a closed mind." At first, I was offended but then I realized that my sister was right. My YOUNGER sister was right (ok but she is only a year younger me soo). In the end, I eventually let go of my doubts and decided to go with NC State with an open mind this time and I love it here.
This story is supposed to remind those that things happen for a reason. I know it's that time for graduating students; finishing up the last few applications, doing interviews with future jobs and maybe even getting their decision from their future schools. Nevertheless, it's the most nerve-wracking time in everyone's life that makes everyone unsure and afraid of what the future holds.
Though, I'm here to tell a quote from a song: LET IT GO. It's a fast-paced life so don't worry so much to the point where it's better to let go than keep holding on so tightly because everything will fall into place. Failure happens all the time and it's one of the worst feelings ever. Despite that, we can't take it hard or we will fail to see what lies ahead.
I want to say one last thing: this is going to sound so cliché but life is so short. We spend our whole lives, going to school, working, worrying about every little thing and rarely spending time with ourselves and those around us. It sounds morbid but in the end, we all die. Life and time keep going on without us like we are irrelevant. The thing that we leave back on this world is our impact. So do something you love, try something completely new, or even give back to the community. Either way, it's your life and you get to take control of it. In the words of Jim Valvano, "If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day…".
