My Future

This is for all of you wondering why such an intelligent girl without a degree is working and not going back to school yet. Well, I dropped the whole attend school thing while I was still registered as a student and it really didn't do much for me. So I dropped the whole registering thing. I did some other stuff. I worked as a supervisor in a hardware store. I was a part time nanny. I was a night auditor at a hotel. I was a full-time missionary. I was a full time Burger King employee. I was unemployed, full-time. And now I will become a teller at a bank. I would not trade a second of the time I have spent not going to school, just as I would never trade a second of the time I was in school. Here is where I make a little shout out to the people I have met over the years. I love my school friends. It has been awesome to know the people I have has occasion to know. People that helped me through tough times as a freshman at BYU. People that made me laugh any time. People that were driven to make $60,000 a year, people that just wanted to enjoy their job. People that wanted to get master degrees, people that dropped out of high school and worked their butts off to become a manager of a local store. I love everyone's stories, and they have shaped my own.
So, back to my story. I have done all these things, for what purpose? There must be something I needed to learn. I did learn something. I learned that just because you are smart doesn't mean you go to college, and just because you go to college doesn't mean you are smart. I know that I could stay out here in the real world and work my way up a ladder of something. But all these experiences have created in me something I am calling a "labor identity". I know what things I like, what things I don't. I want to work with people (hotel, fast food). I want to work with kids (nannying). I want to work with kids that may not know their value (hardware store). I want to work outside (my childhood). I want to work with the Deaf community (my mission). I want to encourage and teach (Primary, my friends). I never would have figured this out without exposure to the experiences of my life. I recall my first declared major...Clinical Lab Science with emphasis in Genetics. Future: Working in a lab, or facility doing tests, research, and genetic counseling. Let me tell you what I want to declare and make my life work... Parks and Recreation Professional with an emphasis in Deaf Education/ASL. Future: Working with camps and recreation programs, emphasizing leadership and possibilites, opening all this to Deaf children and families. I would have enjoyed my first major, felt important, and had prestige while announcing my schooling. Now I can actually imagine myself with the second major. I can actually picture working, and enjoying it. No great prestige, but instead of "Wow, you must be smart," I get "Wow, that sounds wonderful!"
So, I am getting started on figuring out how to get funding for school and what I will need. But never doubt the power that lies in following your heart. Whether you are following it to school, out of school, or down another path, just remember that God has a plan for you. He will align things in your life that will lead you to happiness.