“It feels like I’ve been behind since syllabus week,” I told my friend grumpily as I walked with her to the Vet Med building for my last class on that chilly Monday afternoon. Just getting out of the dreaded BS 161 (Cells and Molecules), my brain was fried and quite frankly I didn’t feel like sitting through another hour of class. So with shoulders slumped and all, I continued our walk with a Debby-downer attitude. My friend, on the other hand, was smiley as normal and was feeding me her upbeat attitude. Usually I would snap out of it and try to smile painfully through our last class, but that day I wasn’t having it. (Sorry Lynn for putting a damper on your sunshiny mood). After class, I went home, climbed up the ladder to my bed, pulled out my laptop, turned on Netflix and continued watching The Office. After 2 episodes I decided it was finally time to acknowledge my least favorite moment of the day, the “Oh crap, I’m behind, time to study my brains out,” moment .I climbed down my ladder and sat at my desk sulking as I logged on to check out my latest assignment.
The next day flew by and before I knew it, I was back in BS 161 learning God knows what. (Honestly if you asked me what a lipid bilayer is I still couldn’t’ tell you). I sat trying to pay attention when I got distracted, as per usual, and noticed how attentive my friend was. “Now why can’t I be like that?” I kept thinking. So after class let out I asked her, “How do you pay attention so well?” and she responded, “Sophie the class isn’t THAT bad. Sure it’s pretty challenging but don’t you find it a little bit interesting? I mean as much as I hate to say it, this isn’t the only biology class you’re going to have to take to get your nursing degree. There’s no back up plan for me anyways, I want to be a nurse.” And that’s when the “What the hell am I doing with my life?” moment hit me like a freight train.
All through the next class I kept thinking about what she said. She hit the nail right on the head it seemed like. Of course this wasn’t going to be my only biology class, or my last science class in general. How could I not think about that? Those thoughts spun around like a broken record for the rest of class. On my walk home, I decided there was some serious thinking I needed to do. So I went for a run. First, I thought back to when I shadowed an emergency room nurse at a hospital near my hometown. Yeah it was neat, but was I enthralled to share my experience with everyone? No. Second, I tried to pinpoint the difference between this semester and last semester. First semester was great. My classes were hard but I was managing them in a superb manor considering it was my first semester in college ever. I thought back to my favorite class first semester, a writing class. I looked forward to going to that class so much. I didn’t even mind the fact that it was on the opposite side of campus; I still couldn’t wait to go every single time. “I wish I felt like THAT going to anatomy or biology,” I mumbled to myself, continuing on with my run. Finally I asked myself the question, “Is being a nurse going to make you happy?” And without skipping a beat I thought, “No.” Truth being told, I couldn’t see myself walking into a hospital years ahead and being excited to go to work. I knew if I kept this major, all I was keeping it for the "job security" that nursing has to offer. This major wasn’t me, it wasn’t me at all. I’ve never liked science, someone could cough 1000 ft away from me and I could still get sick and I’ve come to accept the fact that I’m not the best during stressful situations. And on top of that, I noticed I was lacking something pretty dang important. What I lacked for this major was something you couldn’t work on, you can’t buy at the bookstore or any story as a matter of fact. What I lacked was passion.
After some serious thinking for a week or two, a couple deep talks with the roommates, some close friends and a not so easy talk with my parents I decided to switch my major to journalism. The process was far from easy but when I did it I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I changed my schedule and I can truthfully tell you that I’m excited to take the classes I’m enrolled for. So to anyone who’s thinking about changing their major and is unsure I leave you with this: Life is short, and if you haven’t realized it now you only get one chance at it. So why would you want to waste a huge part of it being unhappy? Pick a major that you have a passion for. Pick a major that leads to a job that you CAN see yourself being at every single day. Pick something that’s going to make you happy. Don’t think about the money. Don’t think about the job security. Because in the end, your professors, your parents, your roommates and your friends aren’t going to be the ones living your life and working your job, YOU are. So do yourself a favor and make the switch.
