Imagine this, you’re walk along the path that you thought you were going in, everything seems to be going perfectly, then the path drops off, it gets dark and hard to see. This I genuinely believe is very similar to what occurs when your passion changes in life, when the one thing that drives completely changes.

This is something that happened to me last year as I went through a big shift in my life right around the end of the second semester. Through my entire middle school and high school career I was a part of concert band, then marching band for four years, in total seven years was spent playing the flute. This was my sole creative outlet, my outlet to get away from everything else going on around me, it was where I made friends and grew as a person. It also was second family to me, a community that I had been with for a while.

As I mentioned before, there was a huge shift once I got into college with my passion and creative outlet. Here at Pfeiffer my freshmen year the only concert band there is, is the community band that students can be a part of. Now where some students fit well with this community band, I did not as I began to dread going to rehearsal every week. So as first semester came to a close I began to realize that something was about to change. That I could be a part of concert band anymore which meant further that it was end to seven year's of playing my flute and having it as a creative outlet. Which at the time was very hard for me to accept, music had been my passion for such a long period of time, I hadn't really spent much of my time doing anything else. What was occurring though was that my passion was changing, my life and mindset in general was changing for the good I just couldn't see it yet.

I remember how confused I was when second semester started up, I didn't know what to do or how to be creative without music being a part of it. All it was though was that I could not see the bigger picture that was beginning to form. I couldn't see or predict that in a few short months that I would be taking photos of athletic events for not only Pfeiffer but also now twice for Lee's Mcrae. I couldn't see that I would be switching my major as a result of my photography and my work study job being with sports information. My passion changed, it changed to something I would never expect, which is one thing that makes me even more confident in what I am doing. Not only do I love my new major, but I love taking photos at athletics events, because those facial expressions, when they see a really great photo of themselves that makes me feel that I am going down the right path.

I say none of this to dismiss those seven years spent playing the flute and being in marching band as if it did nothing, because as I mentioned before it has changed me for the better. Those years and teachers have shaped me and been a part of leading me to where I am today. If you could tell the Courtney from middle school or even high school that this would be what I'm doing right now, she would probably laugh at you, call you insane even. That's the thing about passions and careers even, sometimes you surprise yourself with how much you've changed.