I recently changed my career path, and I was absolutely terrified. Yes, I know you’re probably thinking “AnnMarie, you’re a freshman in college. That’s the best time to do it,” and I agree, but that doesn’t make it any less scary.
For the past few years, I have known what I wanted to do: become a writer and own a photography business with my best friend. I even came to St. Bonaventure with that goal, majoring in Literary Publishing and Editing and planning to minor in business. Though it didn’t fully change, (I’m staying in my major) I did make a huge decision.
In high school, one of the best things was that I was a part of was Mock Trial, and it made me think about becoming an attorney all the time. On top of that, I already loved to argue, and my mom always told me I should be a lawyer. Mock Trial just really showed me how much I enjoyed it.
Flash forward to my first semester at college and I couldn’t stop thinking about Mock Trial. Not just for the reasons that I miss my high school team, but it truly felt like I was missing something so important in my life. I figured, “oh, it will go away with time”, and I can just do Mock Trial here at SBU. But as I let the feeling sit, it only grew stronger.
It made me realize that I have to be a lawyer. It wasn’t some quick switch or “let me do this now” type of deal though. Once I realized I truly wanted to be a lawyer and follow through with this career and all the steps it takes to get there, I didn’t go finalizing that decision. I sat on it some more. I did my research of all the things I will have to do to become a lawyer, and once I was truly sure that I could do it and that I wanted to do it, I pulled the trigger.
It was terrifying to have a meeting with my advisor. But she was so supportive, and now I am minoring in Philosophy of Law and Politics, shout out Dr. Matz for helping me start on my path to my new career journey.
This isn’t something only I have done before, and knowing this had got me to thinking. Freshman year is not the only time I could’ve done this. I could’ve made this decision for myself farther down the road like others do. I was just lucky I realized now because I have no doubt it would’ve been scarier to decide farther into my college career, let alone out of college when I already have another life I’ve created.
I’m writing this not to just tell you that I’ve made this huge decision for myself but to say it’s okay to be scared. Life has so many twists, turns, and forks in the road. No matter how far into it you are, there will always be another one, and yes, it is terrifying, but don’t be too scared because you always stay on one, steady path. Take risks in life, because you never know what will come out of you doing so. It could turn out to be the best thing in your life.