Take Your Time
So in my previous post, earlier today, I talked about why I don't think 18 year olds and even 20 year olds are ready for college.
As you all know I recently moved to Manhattan, KS. I haven't really posted a lot about my personal life since then. I try to keep my blog balanced between personal pieces and opinion pieces. So while both of today's posts are vaguely about the same topic, the last was opinion and this is personal.
Three weeks ago, today, I moved to Manhattan. I moved into a house where I knew no one, in a city where I know very few. While there are actually a lot of people I "know" there's not a lot of close friends here.
I went into college thinking I would be one of the people who goes straight from high school to college to grad school to a career. While I had a desire to see the world, it was very limited. My need to travel was based on the romantic idea of places like Paris and Rome.
After two years of college, my outlook changed a bit. Going to college was a huge culture shock. There is the culture change from high school to college, plus that of Kansas to Arkansas, not to mention the many people from across the country and around the world that I came into contact with, who each brought their own culture with them. Being a history major placed me in a world of differing and fantastic cultures from, not only around the world, but from all time periods.
At this point travel became more of a cultural idea to me. The idea of traveling and meeting people and discovering their cultures, and the cultures of the past was a huge ideal. But I also became less focused on "career". That's not to say that I don't plan to have a college degree and a good job at some point, but I'm beginning to think that it's not a straight line.
As I sat in classes and listened to stories from professors about their own lives, I realized that many of them were very young, yet they had thousands of stories about their experiences, and yet they all had college and graduate degrees. And I realized there was time.
We tell our children that the love of money is the root of all evil, and yet we tell them to go into a career that will pay well. Sure, money itself is not evil so going into a well paying job is not bad, but allowing the salary to outweigh the interest is allowing money to become the objective.
I spent two and a half weeks sleeping on an air mattress. I'm currently beyond broke. I don't have a car and the weather is getting bad. I was unemployed for two weeks, while still having to pay for rent and food.
While this is just the beginning, I'm sure I will face other frustrations and levels of broke-ness. This is the life we try so desperately to save our children from.
But, you know what? I'm happy. I'm excited! I would gladly live this way if it means I get to experience life. I've found that many people who take the straight-shot road from high school to career often miss a lot of things on the way.
Struggling to pay rent isn't fun, but it makes you appreciate what you have. Riding a bike uphill in the rain for two and half miles to get to work really sucks, but it makes you work harder. Sleeping on an air mattress is uncomfortable, but it makes you not take a real bed for granted. I was sort of forced into the position I'm in now, but I'm glad to be here.
People really underestimate the school of hard knocks.
So I guess my message is to take a chance to get to experience life. School is important and necessary, but you've got time.
And you can have those experiences while going to school, too. Study abroad, spend a summer road tripping across the States or hiking across Europe, go on a missions trip, take one semester off.
As you all know I recently moved to Manhattan, KS. I haven't really posted a lot about my personal life since then. I try to keep my blog balanced between personal pieces and opinion pieces. So while both of today's posts are vaguely about the same topic, the last was opinion and this is personal.
Three weeks ago, today, I moved to Manhattan. I moved into a house where I knew no one, in a city where I know very few. While there are actually a lot of people I "know" there's not a lot of close friends here.
I went into college thinking I would be one of the people who goes straight from high school to college to grad school to a career. While I had a desire to see the world, it was very limited. My need to travel was based on the romantic idea of places like Paris and Rome.
After two years of college, my outlook changed a bit. Going to college was a huge culture shock. There is the culture change from high school to college, plus that of Kansas to Arkansas, not to mention the many people from across the country and around the world that I came into contact with, who each brought their own culture with them. Being a history major placed me in a world of differing and fantastic cultures from, not only around the world, but from all time periods.
At this point travel became more of a cultural idea to me. The idea of traveling and meeting people and discovering their cultures, and the cultures of the past was a huge ideal. But I also became less focused on "career". That's not to say that I don't plan to have a college degree and a good job at some point, but I'm beginning to think that it's not a straight line.
As I sat in classes and listened to stories from professors about their own lives, I realized that many of them were very young, yet they had thousands of stories about their experiences, and yet they all had college and graduate degrees. And I realized there was time.
We tell our children that the love of money is the root of all evil, and yet we tell them to go into a career that will pay well. Sure, money itself is not evil so going into a well paying job is not bad, but allowing the salary to outweigh the interest is allowing money to become the objective.
I spent two and a half weeks sleeping on an air mattress. I'm currently beyond broke. I don't have a car and the weather is getting bad. I was unemployed for two weeks, while still having to pay for rent and food.
While this is just the beginning, I'm sure I will face other frustrations and levels of broke-ness. This is the life we try so desperately to save our children from.
But, you know what? I'm happy. I'm excited! I would gladly live this way if it means I get to experience life. I've found that many people who take the straight-shot road from high school to career often miss a lot of things on the way.
Struggling to pay rent isn't fun, but it makes you appreciate what you have. Riding a bike uphill in the rain for two and half miles to get to work really sucks, but it makes you work harder. Sleeping on an air mattress is uncomfortable, but it makes you not take a real bed for granted. I was sort of forced into the position I'm in now, but I'm glad to be here.
People really underestimate the school of hard knocks.
So I guess my message is to take a chance to get to experience life. School is important and necessary, but you've got time.
And you can have those experiences while going to school, too. Study abroad, spend a summer road tripping across the States or hiking across Europe, go on a missions trip, take one semester off.
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