I think we've all been bombarded at some point in time (perhaps even now) with the question: What do you want to do with/in your life? What is your purpose? What is your passion?

And to be honest, when people ask me what I want to do, I have the script all ready. "I enjoy reading, writing and editing, so I'll probably do something related to that when I graduate with my Communication Studies degree." But the fact is, my passions have changed since I first started writing short stories and poems in the fourth grade. Even when deciding what I would like to write on, my passions don't spark my ideas the way they used to. And that can be a scary thing to realize. So many times we think we have everything mapped out-- we know exactly where we're going to go from point to point. But sometimes our road map has some blockage where we didn't expect: there's a road closure where we thought we would go, or there's a couple wrecks along the way that set our arrival time back a few hours...or years.

It's hard really questioning myself on what my purpose is when I thought I had it figured out years ago. You see, I know what I'm fairly adept at-- I know what I can hone in order to succeed in some ways, but is it really my passion anymore? As we get older and go through experiences, our passions may change, and that's a part of life. Sometimes our passions don't seem to change-- we may always enjoy helping others or reading or traveling...but sometimes we have experiences that change us, and that's okay too.

When I was younger, I just wanted to be a writer. I just wanted to write as much as possible. Now I realize I don't necessarily want to be a writer, but that I'm a natural storyteller. I like to share in my experiences, but I struggle with the awkwardness of doing so. Writing has just been my medium for so long that I've gotten used to it, without realizing there's many different avenues I can use, only if I'm willing to try and become vulnerable.

Besides sharing with others, I also have a strong desire to have a secure family unit of my own, and while I'm not sure when or how this will develop in the future, I believe this is just another desire that has emerged because of my natural maturity.

This is less of me talking to myself than it is about me saying to you that it's okay. It's okay for other passions to emerge as you go through life and realize that all the spaces in between Point A and Point B on your road map of life hold opportunities that you may only see once you have to take a detour. Part of living is knowing that you will experience setbacks, but they may not be that after all. We all change and sometimes that's what we need to get to where we needed to be all along.