I have had a pretty normal, typical childhood growing up in Boerne, Texas. I haven’t experienced many worldly things, and to be honest, I’m quite sheltered in most aspects. I’m very thankful for the life I have been given, my family, my friends, and the community I was brought up in. I went to school; I made good grades, and I stayed out of trouble. I like to think I was a good student, daughter, and friend, but we all have our faults, as humans do. I worked hard in high school so that, like most high school graduates, I could attend a four-year university, get a degree in something I enjoy and get a solid job, and, maybe, one day have a family. That is how I was raised to believe the world worked. The routine of our society: go to college, graduate, get a job, get married, have kids, and raise them well. That’s what I have believed for a very, very long time.
Over the summer, I had the opportunity to go to a very small town in Costa Rica called Nosara. I took Spanish classes at a local institute while staying with a host family. The way of life there was nothing like the one I know in Boerne, Texas. There were no paved roads and no air conditioning. There was not a single chain-restaurant in sight. I walked on a dirt road and through a jungle to get to school every day. There were dogs and chickens running EVERYWHERE. I learned not to be alarmed by the howling sounds coming from above in the trees… it was just the monkeys. The people there do not have much, but they beam with joy and pride for the life they have made for themselves. And their joy is inevitably contagious.
See, I used to think I had to follow the routine that society laid out for me. I thought I just had to make it through college and get a good job. I used to think I would just live within the bubble of the life I know. But after going to Nosara, I realized that that is not what this life and this world are about. It isn’t just about the degree or the job. It isn’t about being at the top of your class and spending every night in the library so you can graduate with a degree that will hopefully land you the ‘perfect’ job. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not diminishing the importance of a college degree or an A in a challenging class. I am blessed to be a part of such an outstanding university, and I think it is extremely important to learn as much as the opportunities you are given allow. But I don’t think there are enough people in the world, or at least the world I live in, that are seeing the big picture beyond the routine our society has laid out for us.
We all have a choice. We can follow the routine our society has provided us and remain content and comfortable within the familiarity of the life we hope to build for ourselves. Or you can see the world and experience it the way we are meant to. There is so much more beyond the college degree. There is a whole world of people so different from you and me that are waiting to meet us and tell their story. Their stories are meant to be heard. So let them be heard, go out and find them. Don’t just work hard to obtain a degree and think that’s all there is to life. Don’t be the person who watches their life go by, waiting for it to begin. I still find myself living life like it will start tomorrow or next year. I find myself planning ahead and thinking that my life will begin when I reach the next goal I set for myself. But the thing is, THIS is your life.
Right now. It’s not waiting for you to get to the next checkpoint, and the world doesn’t stop turning for you to figure it out. Your life is happening right now, and you can blink and watch it fly by or you can go somewhere. Do something that scares you. Don’t let society restrain you, go and be brave for the people waiting to tell you something beautiful and shocking and fascinating. The knowledge you receive from college will benefit you in so many ways, but the knowledge that the world longs to give you…Well, I can assure you there is nothing quite like it. God has given us a remarkable world, and I hope and pray that when you reach the end of your days, you are exhausted because you have lived and experienced all that it has to offer you.
