This past week starts the second semester of my junior year. In one year I will (hopefully) be graduating. This terrifies me. Not only was this past week the first day of school, but it was also my first day in my new major, English. Up until this point, I was a chemistry major. I know, I can hear some people asking me why I decided to switch.
To be completely honest, I never actually wanted to do chemistry. My passion has always been books. After my senior year, I didn't know what I wanted to do in life. As much as I love English, I have always been told growing up that the only job I could get would be teaching, and I'm not much of a teacher. So I started my journey at college as "undecided".
So, why chemistry? Well, during my senior year of high school I was in Honor's Chemistry and I did very well in it. Don't get me wrong, I do like chemistry. I enjoy figuring out what things are composed of and I do think chemical reactions are REALLY cool. During orientation, you have to schedule your classes with the department your major is in. Since I was undecided, I had expressed interest in chemistry and so I was just scheduled as if I was a chemistry major.
Over time, I began to realize that chemistry was not really something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life; but this was a little thought that I kept shoving down because, by this point, I was heavily involved in the major. I didn't want to admit that this major wasn't for me because I didn't actually want to admit quitting or even failing something, but I wasn't happy and it was evident. Then it hit me:
What does it matter what other people think? I want to be happy!
It was shortly after my 21st birthday that I decided to make the change. I remember calling my parents and telling them and they were so supportive of me. I thought that I would disappoint everyone in my life, but I soon realized that people just wanted me to be happy. They wanted me to do something that I love doing.
As I know finding a job will be hard, I feel much better at where I am in life and where things are headed. I firmly think that this is the path that I am supposed to be on and I know that while the next few semesters will be stressful with trying to play catch up with classes will be worth it!