I'll just have you know, this blogging thing is addicting. My next post quite frequently occupies my thoughts.
Today, biggest thing on my mind: What should I do with my life? A woeful cry I hear echoing frequently around campus. My thoughts on that: the answer should just come to me already. I've spent enough time thinking about it, I have a great desire to DO something, so come on already!
For those of you who I don't get the opportunity to speak to on a regular basis (and those of you who don't pay attention when I do speak), here is the background story: Came to college pretty positive I was going to be a nurse. Took some classes, they were fine, but I couldn't see myself being a nurse day in and day out for the rest of my life. (I may or may not like to tell people to just toughen up and deal with it, I think most patients would prefer a slightly more compassionate approach). Nursing knowledge sounded fun, duties not so much.
So I became an Open Major. And took a Career Exploration class. I liked it, loved my teacher, learned a lot, read plenty of great articles, BUT nothing fell into my lap. Biggest thing I did realize: (maybe y'all knew this already and just neglected to tell me) I've got to do something I'm passionate about. Grinding through boring workdays for the rest of my life does not sound appealing. At. All.
So what am I passionate about? (Feel free to leave your personal opinions about that in the comment section.) I love hunting, playing sports and teaching people stuff. Maybe not necessarily in that order...I don't know.
The problem that still remains: I'm scared of taking the jump and making a decision. I know you can change your mind and all that. But like I said, I'm impatient, I just want to KNOW already, I don't really want to do this exploring thing anymore. Two things happened the other day that reminded me that making decision and trying something is always better than remaining in limbo. The first was a great lesson I had in Book of Mormon the other day. We were discussing Ether 12, specifically verse 6 where it states, "...faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Decisions like these are not supposed to be easy. As I looked back on my life I realized that, even though it is difficult in the moment, the Lord has never let me down in the past. The path my life has taken thus far has been extremely guided by His hand, and because He is a perfect unchanging God I know I can rely on that same guidance in the future. But I have to do my part, there needs to be some action involved. The second thing that it reminded me of was a story from my childhood. I read this book so many times I could probably recite it to you, and there was also a certain someone who was constantly reminding me of it when there were things I didn't want to try. The line that came to me was this: "try it, try it and you may. Try it and you may I say." I don't know whether I will like any of the career paths or majors that are on my mind, but if I don't try it how will I ever know?
Currently I'm working on it. I've narrowed down a couple majors, I've made a plan to talk with a few professors, I'm trying my best to be patient and have faith.
After reading this long post, with no pictures to keep you entertained, feel free to leave any ideas in the comment section. Advice, thoughts, pretty much whatever your heart desires; I'd be delighted to read it. Thanks for bearing with me through this self contemplation. It was a lot more helpful for me than you, most likely.
Sydney the Great.
ReplyDeleteI hope you know i call you that, because you are. and you'll be saved in my phone like that forever. Well, until you're married or something.
Unfortunately, I am afraid I don't have many words of wisdom or a speech that is too scholarly, but just know that it all works out! "Faith in God, also means faith in His timing." Remember in the car you told, no answer at all may be your answer. Maybe the timing is not right & thats PERFECTLY okay. I don't think we even need to have declared majors as Freshman by any means--although it would be very comforting & it woud be nice to know since you can get started on your major--but who cares. Find what you love and do it. You have an incredible amount of faith--enough to move a mountain. So show the world, Sydney the Great.
This post reminded me of two things. One, your calling as a ward missionary. Two, another wonderful scripture with a 6 in it: Alma 36:6. "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass, yea small means in many instances doth confound the wise." I don't know about you (actually I do know about you, I know a lot about you), but I tend to think I'm pretty wise and usually right. Yet very, very rarely has anything worked out the way I predicted it would. It's usually simpler, smaller, quieter than I imagined. This might be because I like to imagine accomplishing great, noteworthy things, generally in one, earth-shattering moment. But every simple thing that's happened has been the right thing. The Lord knew what I needed. Since I've already admitted to my faulty predictive powers, I can't really say definitively that this will be the case with you life/major. But it might be.
ReplyDelete