Adjusting Your Sails and Changing Your Future

Did you ever wake up one day and wonder, am I going towards the right career path? Is this career really what I want to do for the rest of my life? Do I love it that much? And the scariest answer you can come up with is “I don’t want to have that profession anymore”. This exact scenario happened to me my second semester of sophomore year. All my life, from the young age of 6 or 7 I loved playing “teacher.” I adored teaching my younger brother out of my old elementary school books, making up play worksheets for him, and teaching him on my infamous white board. The scariest day of my life was when that all changed and my mind and heart didn’t want to teach anymore.

I went into college knowing that I wanted to teach at an elementary school level. I adored children, and ever since I was young, teaching was what I wanted to do. When I finally got to college, made it through my freshman year, and approached my sophomore year, I started to realize that teaching wasn’t what it was when I was younger. It wasn’t something I was really passionate about anymore. This frightened me, I had already gone through one whole year of college, and my first semester of sophomore year, and finally realized that the path I was going on wasn’t what I wanted to do anymore. My older brother, changed his major several times in college, and I told myself that that wouldn’t be me when I was in college and it turns out it’s exactly me. All that time I thought he was being incredibly indecisive, and didn’t really care about what he went to school for, but it took until myself going through the same thing to realize that sometimes your heart isn’t in things anymore. Sometimes, it takes looking to your hobbies to figure out what it is you want to be doing in the future, and trust me it is extremely scary figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life but for me there’s so much I want to do and accomplish.

I want to get into the Disney College Program, I want to work in the place where dreams come true and where countless amounts of mine did. I grew up in Disney, it’s practically a second home away from home and to be able to work there would be one of the biggest dreams come true. I want to work for a magazine, I want to put my heart and soul into working at one or possibly writing for one. I want to work where I put my faith and trust in all throughout growing up, the infinite amounts of magazines that I looked to as my holy bibles to get through adolescence. I want to make my blog even more successful than it already is. I want to start my own makeup line or maybe own my own boutique. What I’m getting at is that I’m 21 years old, almost done with college, and can’t figure out that ONE thing that I want to do. Because there isn’t just one thing, there’s tons of things, and I’m starting to be okay with that. It’s okay to love and be good at so many different things because it’s what makes you diverse and well learned. What I have found out though is that writing for blogs and possibly working for a magazine is something I’ve finally figured out. And although I changed my mind in college [which I never claimed I would do] I’m happy I figured it out and am going after something that now interests me and gets my creative juices flowing.

So I recommend you go out there and find what makes you happy, not your parents, not your friends, YOU. Find what gets your heart going, and makes you feel good while doing it whatever it may be. Everyone has always told me “Oh you’re not going to make good money doing that” well at this point in life my goal is to be happy. Of course I like expensive things and have lavish taste, but at the price of having a miserable job and a ton of money, it’s not worth it. I need something that makes me happy more than something that gives me a million dollars. Don’t be afraid to go out there and change your mind and don’t feel pressured to only want to accomplish one thing in life because I guarantee you there is so much more out there than the one thing you want as a career.

Join a Sorority for You and No One Else

I’m going to come right out and say it, a sorority is not for everyone [and I mean that when I say it]. Going through recruitment, making it through a sorority associating new member process, and gaining a plethora of new sisters is extremely overwhelming. You can feel like you don’t know everyone, and that you are close with a select few, and you wish you knew everyone better than you initially do.

Here is where I’m going to tell you that even though all of those things I just listed can seem completely overwhelming, they’re wrong. Yes things will seem overwhelming, but the rush of recruitment is like no other adrenaline rush you’ve ever felt. The excitement of walking into a room and feeling so at home and comfortable is unexplainable. Seeing the professionalism and the welcoming of each and every sister makes it that much more desired. You realize you want it more badly than anything you've ever wanted. But a sorority is a huge commitment that you have to think about thoroughly. Yes there are dues, yes there are mandatory events and meetings, but everything else that comes along with it so 100% worth it.

You want to make sure you’re joining a greek organization for yourself and no one else. Don’t ask anyone else’s opinions about whether they see you in a greek organization because the only way you’ll find the answer is if you ask yourself. Can you see yourself becoming a more active member in the community? Can you see yourself taking on leadership positions? Do you think this will add so much more to your college experience? These are all questions you need to ask yourself before you step into that recruitment room because I made the mistake of asking members of my family and friends what they thought about sororities and asked them if they could see me in one but that wasn’t what I needed to figure out. Could I see myself in one was the real question. Countless people I was close to told me no, and said that they couldn’t see me in Greek life but years later I couldn’t be more proud that I asked myself the question and figured out that it was something I wanted to be a part of.

I had asked people I was close to, people who were already in Greek life and told me they could never see me in a sorority, what did that even mean? Seriously? That put such a damper on my positivity to join one, but ultimately became something I needed to figure out on my own. I figured out that Greek life was something I had to get a feel for, it wasn't something I could find out from watching movies or shows like "Greek" or from other people that were in them but my own personal experience and feelings toward it. I took a gamble, walked into that recruitment room and realized that it was something I wanted. All of my worries and fears that people had instilled in me that persuaded me that I wouldn't enjoy it were wrong. So prove them wrong; get your own opinion of it and decide for yourself.

Make sure you do the same for yourself, don’t jip yourself of an opportunity because other people’s opinions interfere with your own goals and dreams. Do it for you and no one else.