Life is so full of expectations; high and low. Our parents set expectations for us even before we are born, other family members set them, friends, teachers, colleagues, and most importantly we set expectations and goals for ourselves. For a long time, I thought life was about going on a straight and steady path and that I was supposed to follow if not in my parents footsteps in the ones they created for me. But what I learned growing up, through the many hardships, and life lessons is that the road each individual travels throughout their life is not straight and it is not steady. There are steady moments but everyone hits a rough patch once in a while whether it be medical problems, family problems, death, or anything else. But somehow each one of us gets through it in our own ways. And I promise you battling through all those hardships and continuing on that road is so brave and you are so strong even though you may be stumbling. Everyone wants to live a long life but sometime it gets cut short and you should be happy with it no matter what age you are.
Everyone wants to find themselves along the way, especially us college students. At 18 years old we are pushed out into the world and society tells us that we are supposed to know what we are going to go to college for and what we want to do for the rest of our lives. But a lot of us have no idea yet and even though it feels wrong, I promise you it’s okay. And to all the people who chose not to go to college, that’s okay too. There’s the whole expectation that we are supposed to go to school, graduate, go to college, graduate, get a career, commit to that career, get married, have kids, provide for your family with that job you studied so hard for but that’s not an expectation that needs to be followed. There’s this whole big world out there that we are missing out on. Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of the people that follow that path but I’m also proud of the people who put a little color on their path. Take a year or even a couple years off after high school and travel the world. Don’t go to college at all and work a job that makes you happy even if it isn’t the highest paying job, move to another state and find yourself, build your own family. Go to college and transfer if you want to. Study abroad. Go get your masters. Cut all your hair off, dye it red, get a tattoo, pour your heart out to your crush, elope, get married at 18 or even 82, tell your parents you love them as much as you can. Smile at the passerby’s who give you dirty looks, and compliment the person who hates you for being so happy with the life you’ve built for yourself. Be happy with who you are and if you’re not happy, it’s not the right path so change it. Love the life you live no matter how hard it gets. If you’re not living for you who are you living for?
