I’m a collector of quotes. There’s something about quotes that just resonate with me. I write them down on index cards and place them wherever I can. I imagine that some day, my loved ones will find thousands of quotes when they go through my belongings following my death. They;ll find them in books, in drawers, in notebooks, in sketchbooks, tucked in picture frames, pinned to bulletin boards, under the ribbons of my memory board, and on my desk and dresser. I think quotes say a lot about a person, and in the age of the internet, we have access to so many more than we used to.
Lately I’ve been thinking about the future and how I want to live my life and where I want to go and what I want to do. I recently came across this quote from Lisa Hammond on Pinterest:
It really got me thinking. In the past couple of weeks I have made some pretty big decisions about my future career. Despite being only about four classes short, I decided to drop my Visual Arts Education major. I know that I do not want to be an art teacher, but at the same time, I was so close to completing the major that it seemed like I should go ahead and finish it. Ultimately, though, I decided to drop it. Why complete a major when I know the related career is not for me? It also clears up my schedule for the next 3 semesters considerably and will allow me to take a more manageable load and focus more on the courses that truly matter for my degree. I’ve also solidified my desire to be a school librarian. I am taking a Literacy Acquisition and Development course and I have loved learning about teaching literacy, children’s literature, and reading development. I find it fascinating and am now sure that I am going in the right direction.
At the same time, I have also been looking further into my dreams, even the ones that seem difficult to attain. My sister and I have long had a dream to open up a business together. It’s changed a lot over the years, but the idea has never gone away. Although this dream is still in the distance for a number of reasons, we have continued to talk about what this would look like. My sister is looking into potentially changing her major (and her school) to study culinary arts (but she’s not sure at all if she’ll actually do so). I truly believe that if we really want to do this, there is nothing stopping us (sorry for being so vague, but we’re not even sure exactly what the plan is). We disagree with those who think “we’re dreaming” and that nothing will ever come of it. Along the same line, my siblings and I are in the process of planning an overseas trip in the near future (fingers crossed that we can make it happen!). Financially, I feel like I should be saving my money, but at the same time, I want to follow my dreams of travel now, when I am still young and have the flexibility and freedom to do so. After all, why not? This quote from Anthony Bourdain has also been on my mind lately: “If you’re 22, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel- as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them wherever you go.”
How do you approach the future? I’m very big into responsibility but also yearn for adventure (which almost always involves a certain amount of risk), so I struggle to balance the two.
The Oke Den 