When I started college about two and a half years ago, I was an incredibly shy and very quiet business major. I just wanted to get through school with a good GPA and a degree I could rely on.

My whole first year of school was terrible, partly because I was away from my closest friends and didn’t make much of an effort to make new ones, and partly because I was on my school’s golf team and had no confidence in my golf game due to a wrist injury that just wouldn’t go away. I think the biggest reason I was so unhappy, though, is that I was in the wrong major, and I was trying to be something I just wasn’t.

In grade school and high school, I loved writing and reading. English and history were my favorite subjects. In high school, I was involved in English Club, and I was the co-editor in chief of the school paper. I participated in writing contests and even won one.

Once I finished high school, I thought it was time to get serious and get a degree in business so I could have a decent lifestyle after college. I kind of stifled the real me, the essence of what I am.

Luckily, when I told my parents how sad I was and how frustrated I was with school, they listened to me and encouraged me to follow my heart. They were open to the idea of me changing my major and even transferring schools if I really felt like it was necessary.

I ended up just switching my major to an English and Communication double major with a concentration in journalism, and I’m so much happier and more excited about school and my future.

I love my English classes because I don’t just learn how to write papers or passively read articles and stories. I also get to think deeply and explore human nature and life. In my English classes, my beliefs are challenged on a daily basis, whether I’m reading literary theory or Harry Potter. My classes tackle all kinds of social issues, including race, class, and gender. They make me see things from other perspectives. Sometimes, my classes make me change my beliefs, and other times, they make me stand even firmer in them.

My communication classes are hugely important to me because they have made me a little bolder. I’m still quiet, but I’m not afraid to speak up if needed. I’m more confident and not as nervous to talk to new people. I now know how to handle myself with poise when I’m working for my school paper and my local paper.

Really, what I want you to take away from this is that life is too short to be angry or sad.

It’s too short to do something you don’t love.

Stop worrying about what your family might think if you go into something like English or art.

Stop worrying about the future.

Be true to you.