Growing up, I always knew that I wanted to go to college. My plans were simple. After graduating high school I would go to college and graduate four years later with a degree. First, I was going to for Education then Interdisciplinary Studies. During my senior year, I had decided that I wanted to go to this university for Interdisciplinary Studies, and I was super excited. Things ended up changing. I decided to take a gap year after graduating from high school instead of going to college right away. During my gap year, I got some more job experience and took ministry classes. I gained knowledge and experience that I would have never received if I would have gone to college right away.

After my gap year, I decided to attend a college that I didn't even apply to during my senior year of high school. I now saw myself at this college. During my first year, I changed my major and minor and decided to get a degree in Sociology with a minor in Spanish. At this time, I planned on finishing college in four years because I didn't want to be in college longer than I had to. I just wanted to get it done. A few years go by, and now, I'm a senior in college. By this time, I had changed my minor from Spanish to English, but my major had stayed the same. Everything was set for me to graduate in four and a half years. I was fine with that. An extra semester wasn't going to kill me. It was not the end of the world if I had to graduate a semester later.

At this point, I had decided to add a certificate in forensic science, adding an extra semester for a total of five years. But a few months ago, I decided to see what it would look like if I double majored instead of having a major, minor, and certificate. In the end, I decided to change my English minor to a major and double major in Sociology and English. I would be graduating in the same amount of time if I would have kept my major, minor, and certificate anyway. It made more sense for me to double major.

Life can be unexpected. I never would have thought five years ago that I would be where I am today. It's crazy how life works, but I know that I am where I am supposed to be. I look back at my life, and I have God to thank. I have grown so much in the past five years. I might not where I thought I was going to be but God knew.

I want to remind, whoever is reading this, that we all have our own pace and our own plan. We shouldn't be comparing our lives with others. I know that I have. I think at times, what if I never would have taken a gap year. I would have graduated from college a long time ago. What if I never added to my degree. I could have graduated earlier. What if I never would have gone to this club or this event. What if I never would have met these people. Everything happens for a reason.

We are all different, and our plans will be different than every other person out there. I had to remind myself of that. The same is with college. We all study different things. We all take a certain amount of time to get a degree. We shouldn't compare ourselves to one another, or judge one another. College is for some people while it's not for others. God has a plan for every single one of us, and his timing is perfect.