When I was a senior in high school I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was so worried about leaving my hometown and my family, but I knew I didn’t want to be a nurse. So I applied to the medical imaging major at the local hospital. I felt pretty good about it. I got to live at home and I saved a lot of money, but X-Ray was a lot different than I thought it was. I had only ever had 2 X-rays taken in my life and I was really young, so I couldn’t remember how it went. I didn’t want to be a nurse because I didn’t feel comfortable touching people’s bodies, and to my despair, that is something you have to do as an X-ray tech. I got into my clinical about halfway through my first semester, but I did not feel like I had learned enough to be taking actual X-rays for an actual hospital. I knew I didn’t want to do this for the rest of my life, but I didn’t want to drop out and waste my money so I finished the semester and did my final X-rays. I knew I had to find something else.
There was a good point of 2018 where I got into a big depressive rut because I didn’t know what to do with my life. I was living at home and working at a fast-food restaurant. I was everything I never wanted to be. That’s when it struck me. I loved reading and writing and everything about it, but being an author was out of the question. I also knew I had a bunch of teachers in high school that made learning a lot harder and I always told myself, “If I was a teacher, things would be so much different.”
So I decided to become an English teacher. I worried at first that it was another thing I panicked and chose but as my second year comes to a close, I feel confident in what I chose. As much as I wish I would have figured it out in the first place, it makes me feel good that I know this is what I want to do because I sacrificed so much more money and time. I didn’t just choose the easy way.