I’ve always looked up to my dad—the poor farm boy that funded his own college, built a career from the ground up and now runs a company. I’m not sure if it’s biology or the fact that he was my hero growing up, but it’s no mistake that at every reunion with his college buddies, I’ll hear the remark “Wow, you could not be more like your father,” at least a dozen times. I hear it even more now that I have chosen the University of Delaware since my dad is an alumni. We have the same sense of humor, love for sports, (I hate to admit it but,) short-temper, and lastly, the most relevant aspect of this blog, our ‘hobbies.’ 

What I mean by the air-quoted ‘hobbies’ is that we will dive head first into this new activity, whatever it may be, totally obsessed, and then after a short amount of time, abandon it without looking back. We all laugh at my dad for the time he thought he was going to be a musical prodigy and bought a super expensive guitar only to learn two songs. Or the time he invested in a top-of-the-line road bike only to take it out ten times max. Honestly, you name it, my dad has tried it. Although I poke fun at him, I have cast myself the hypocrite role, because I have come to realize I do the same exact thing. 

I’m pretty sure I have considered changing my major about 20 different times so far this year, might I add, to 20 different majors. I fell in love with painting and photography over winter break and thought hell, maybe I’ll do something art related. I remembered the AP Computer Science class I aced in high school and thought “hmmm…maybe coding or graphic design.” I thought back to how much I adored writing opinion articles for my school newspaper, not to mention that my sole form of therapy dealing with those four years was to retreat to my room and lay out every detail of my life in the journals I kept since the summer before ninth grade, and I turned to journalism…or maybe I’ll write some mind-blowing book. Trust me the list goes on and on including, Philosophy, Psychology, Sports Medicine; I’m honestly all over the place. 

So finally to address the topic at hand, my future, I have absolutely no idea. I mean as most people do, I want a husband, I want kids, but as for where I’ll be living, what job I’ll have or basically anything else related, my mind draws a blank. Half the time I joke to my boyfriend that I want to drop out of college, live in a van, travel, and just write about it. If I’m being truthful, that’s barely a joke, because I think that would be an eye-opening, life-changing experience. 

Now I know some people must think I’m crazy, like the one friend I had in high school who has had her whole life bullet pointed on a sheet of paper since she was about 12 months old and is currently studying at Yale. But I’d rather not limit my options. People grow and change and mature. I’ve become a totally different person since just the beginning of college, and it would be…well just plain idiocracy for me to assume that my interests and priorities won’t change again by the time I’m ready to step out into the real world. 

I don’t have an exact plan, but I’m also not worried about it. At times, this may be a fault of mine, but I tend to live in the moment. I take things as they come at me. I would rather try everything and fail a couple times than set my life on one track where success is constantly necessary or it sets everything off course. There’s a lot more to be learned from failures, stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things, than choosing one thing you’re good at and never altering your trajectory. 

Things don’t always work out the way you plan. My dad was set on being a pilot and went to a version of “Accepted Students Day” at the institution he was to be enrolled in which was located in Texas. During the drive through the local town to campus, upon seeing Confederate Flags everywhere and not getting such a great ‘vibe’ as you might put it, he decided he couldn’t possibly go there. He only wound up at Delaware because it was the only school that would allow him to start first semester with the rest of the freshman class on time because he applied so late. He even changed his major once he got here, but as he describes it now, there’s no other way he would’ve had it work out, and college here was one of the best times in his life.

So hey, I might not have like slightest inkling for what my future holds, but like my dad, I’m excited to welcome the unexpected, take advantage of new opportunities, and push myself out of my comfort zone to become a better, more well-rounded person.