The road less traveled…we all know how our parents highly suggest that we don’t go down this path. “It won’t make you money.” “You won’t have a job.” “Blah Blah Blah…” It goes on and on, like a never ending spiral of reasons why. But two things is never asked: why do you want to go down this path? Does it make you happy? Well for me, my road less traveled does make me happy and I have every intention of following it until the end of that road.
This year, we had to declare our majors and because I want to travel down the road less traveled, I declared a double major: Art History and International Studies. Now let me tell you, double majoring at a top 20 institution is not the road less traveled, but my choice of majors is. I have chosen two completely different fields because in my life, I have two COMPLETELY different career aspirations. Since I was a child, I’ve known that I wanted to be a creative. I have always wanted to work in a creative field, and although that has shifted from being a Shamu trainer to working as a full-time photographer, my heart lies with creativity. But what does this have to do with International Studies? There’s another half of me that wants to do good in this world, whether as a lawyer at an HRO (Human Rights Organization) or as a future Madam President (who knows, maybe a 2028 run is in my future). While that does not sound like the road less traveled, in my family, we don’t go into law, we go into medicine. I’m straying away from what my family is known for, but I’m doing what makes me happy.
Life is all about what makes you happy and this week in particular, I’m realizing how short life can be. I’m taking my life at full value and trying to find a way that gets me to a place in life where I am happy, but also doing what fulfills the global definition of success. I have to follow the road less traveled and who knows, maybe I will go into International Property Rights law and do something that makes me happy on both ends, but I don’t know. At the moment, I’m following this lonely, windy road, but at the end of the day, I’m happy to know that I will be happy, or I hope so, with my decisions.
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