I want to be a baseball statistician.
There, I said it.
If you were to ask me what I need to do to become it, what exactly the work is like, or even why I decided on that occupation instead of a more “secure” one, I’d probably only be able to answer the last question. All I know is that I want to be it.
Dreams were usually those cute questions my parents would ask me when I was little and hoped to God that I answered somewhere between doctor or princess. As time went on, the questions soon evolved into occupations I want to do with my life, and when the answer didn’t fit into the mold of “stability” or something that paid well, my dreams took the back burner.
They told me they were only “hobbies” and that I can do them “later.” They weren’t “feasible” or weren’t worth my time. Soon, my dreams became those things packed neatly in a box to be put away in an effort to appease them.
When I entered college, I mapped my future in black and white. My parents always told me since middle school to get a job in nursing because it was in the medical field. To be “different,” I chose Kinesiology with the pre-physical therapy track (ohohoho I know, so unique). The workload was fine, but it never brought me any joy. It didn’t interest me or make me want to pay attention. It was just a requirement to get that degree.
Photo Courtesy: Playbuzz
After the first semester of my freshmen year, I realized that becoming a physical therapist just wasn’t for me. So, in order to not lose out on all the science credits I had, and being the crafty student I was, I opted to switch to the bane of my existence: nursing. Now, nursing is a fine profession. It pays well, it’ll always be on the job market, and it’s rewarding in its own way.
However… it just wasn’t for me.
So fast forward to fall semester of my sophomore year when I took that young withdrawal from Anatomy & Physiology. Not only did it cut my chances applying to nursing school at UIC, it made me realize that I was only making myself miserable choosing a career that I never saw myself doing.
The point of this article isn’t to start bombarding you now with the uplifting clichés like “Follow your dreams ❤,” or “Don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you love!!” because really, phrases like that do nothing except make me want to roll my eyes so hard that it falls out of my sockets.
The only thing I want you to take away from this is to not think that your dreams, your passion, the thing you really want to do with your life but forced to put aside in favor of something else, is silly. Because it’s not.
In all honesty, I didn’t find my passion for baseball until I learned more about it in a Japanese manga. Before, I actually used to hate it.
I can’t promise you that others won’t give you weird looks, but what I can tell you is that you shouldn’t shoot it down just because it sounds silly.
I want to be a baseball statistician.
And honestly?
I don’t think that it sounds silly at all.