Emily Crighton
Editor-in-Chief
Along with the beginning of each semester comes a whirlwind of emotion: excitement, nerves, dread, and relief somehow all at once. This is my next to last whirlwind, and I’ll tell you what – I have a feeling it’s going to be the craziest and best one yet.
This time last month I had no idea I’d be writing this column or running this paper. However, I truly believe that life has a funny way of throwing you exactly where you’re meant to be, given you’re willing to be thrown around a little.
When I applied to ISU in 2013, I told my family I was going to be an optometrist because they made good money, I thought eyes were cool and I was terrified of admitting I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. As a freshman I hated admitting my undeclared status to classmates who proudly talked of pre-med, engineering and nursing degrees they felt destined to pursue. I was lost. I felt that as long as I was undeclared I was wasting time and money. I stayed in school only because I had no idea what else to do.
Thank God I did.
If I had left college as I felt I should have, I never would have figured out who I was or what I wanted. Here’s my unqualified advice: don’t throw yourself into a degree because you feel obligated to do so. There’s power in being undeclared. Embrace it. Undeclared means trying new things until something feels right. It means not having to define yourself just yet. It means taking classes in biology, anthropology and photography all at once. Changing your major means you’ve discovered something new about yourself, not that “Plan A” fell through.
As I inch my way toward graduation I’ve found that, somehow, the unknown isn’t as frightening as it used to be. Despite everything I’ve done to make myself more appealing to employers I cannot guarantee that I will not be serving you coffee at Starbucks after graduation. Am I going to get a job in my field right away? Maybe. Am I even qualified to be running a college newspaper? Let’s not go there.
I’ve learned a lot about media law, Latin American cultures and the Creative Cloud the past three years; but I’ve learned more about myself at ISU than anything else. I’ve shown myself and those around me that I am capable of making a place for myself in this world. No matter where life throws me, I’m confident in my ability to carve my own niche.
I’ve learned to leap even when I cannot yet see the net below, something unfathomable to my exhaustingly-overcautious teenage self.
Now is the time to find your dream and chase it. For some of us finding the dream is the hard part. For others, it’s the pursuit. Either way, there will be moments when things feel much too hard or much too frightening. There will be times you feel as if everyone else seems to have it all figured out. I’ll let you in on a secret – they don’t. Well, I don’t anyway. And that’s okay.
