I changed my major eight times in college; that's an average of about once every semester. I did still manage to graduate in four years, but I find it funny that the degree I graduated with (a BA in English) actually only took me three semesters to complete. When I tell people I have an English degree, they don't realize that I also took a ton of biology, psychology and social work classes. Having a liberal arts education is mostly gen eds, and as a result, you end up with at least some experience in a variety of disciplines, which is pretty perfect for someone like me.

The hard part about it is that people see my resume and write me off as someone they can put into an English-major box. They assume that I'm introverted, I'm bookish, I use long words liberally, and I'm probably a little "off" like their memories of jaded high school teachers and wispy college professors. Because I ended up with English on my $160k piece of paper, no one gets to see my other passions or qualities. While I love writing, and while I loved the classes I was taking, the only improvement I saw in my own work was due to conversations with peers and professors which easily could have happened in a multitude of settings. Honestly, I think I wrote more when I was a social work major than when I majored in writing!

Let me be honest with you again: I did not want to go to college right after I graduated from high school. People always expected it not only because it was the logical next step for our generation, but also because I graduated with a very high GPA and "showed a lot of potential" and "was destined for great things." That's a lot of pressure to put on someone who just turned 18, but starting sophomore and junior year people always start asking about your next steps and where you want to go to college and what you want to major in. As if you're supposed to know! I change my mind daily about what I want to be and do when I grow up, even now.

So here was my trajectory: biology, Spanish, youth ministry, psychology, missions and anthropology, communications, social work, and English. And that was after I decided against culinary school. Pretty wide range, huh? Mostly, they're in humanities, so at least I have some general overarching idea of where my life is headed. Every time I changed my major, I'd wake up the next day or a week or a month later and wish it was something else. My "problem" is that I love too many things, and unfortunately that makes me come off as indecisive or flighty or unable to commit. However, I have finally come to realize that the problem isn't me. The problem is with everyone else's expectations of me.

Why is my love for so many things seen as too much? Why is it seen as a weakness? Why have I been looked over for jobs or promotions because people think I'm flaky? It's not that I get bored easily or that I'm dissatisfied with the opportunities I've been given. I just plan on squeezing a lot into the one lifetime I get. So yes, I want to be a pastry chef and a midwife and a social worker and a mom and a wife and a world traveler and a writer and a Young Life leader and probably a few other things, but why is that wrong?

People see my resume or ask me questions in an interview and think "Wow, she's all over the place" or "She has no idea what she wants," but there's a reason I'm sitting there talking to you, isn't there? I'm taking all life has to offer me, and for a while that might be you, and for a while that will be someone else or somewhere else. If you're looking to interview a 23-year-old and find someone to fill a position for the next 50 years, I'm not the right person; I'll say that. But if you want someone who will wholly commit to the job I have for the time I have it, I am 100% that person.

I've never half assed something a day in my life, and I have news for you: I am so much more than mediocre. I have excellent leadership and time management skills, and I am incredibly efficient precisely because I love so many things. Don't think I'm telling you what you want to hear when I say I can work alone or in groups, at a desk or on my feet, in the morning or at night, or any other obscure question you can think of because I can and will do it all with excellence. Do not underestimate me because I'm young, or a woman, or a millennial, or an English major, or liberal arts educated, or a Christian, or any other assumptions you may have about me. Give your judgments a rest and don't write me off quite yet.