What’s wrong with being an astronaut?

Rachel Hicks

Registration came out of nowhere into the week of finals preparation.  During the last week of March, we were faced with deciding the course(s) of our lives.

Fall registration came out of nowhere.  Last week, the last week of March, we decided who we want to become next year.  That’s a long time to plan ahead, especially if you live in the moment.

Do you feel anxious or unsettled about the classes you choose?  If so, keep reading.

Some of us can be single-minded to the point of destruction.  Stop.  Breathe.  Find it within yourself to strip away every thought that isn’t your own.  Only originalities remain.

Remember when you were a free child, your only obligation to obey your parents’ few commands.  What were your tendencies then?  To which places did your brain wander?

Before society influenced you, what were your fascinations?

What were some things you loved as a child?  Were you an explorer, roaming wild and free through fields and forests, or did you prefer building futuristic Lego utopias?

What were the objects your hands gravitated towards—crayons, balls, journals, books, etc.?

Did you fill countless pages with fantasies about magical horses and lonely beautiful damsels?  Were you constantly exploring or excavating rocks from your neighbor’s yard?

Maybe your childhood inclinations are the secret to your happiness career-wise.  Is it possible that your destiny is to follow the dreams you had as a kid?

Society may have told you who you could be, but is that who you should be?

Some people have an amazing ability to push themselves through painful, uncomfortable, or difficult situations.  This is a great life skill; however, if you’ve been forcing yourself through things you don’t like your whole life, do you need to keep forcing yourself through them for the rest of your life?

If chemical equations and formulas leave you feeling queasy and seizure-like, trying an English class might be a good idea.

If you sat all of your stuffed animals in rows and taught them how to read and write, what’s stopping you from pursuing an education major?

What if you had the courage to follow your gut desire?  Maybe you would thrive beyond belief, loving every minute of making the world a better place with your talents.

It’s okay to enjoy a class or have fun in college.  Just because you started pre-med, doesn’t mean getting into grad school junior year is the end all be all of your existence.  Taking a year off from science is healthy.  You won’t spend your whole life wondering, “what if?”

Take a deep breath, step back, and allow yourself to question where you are going and why you’re headed there.  If the answer doesn’t have the words love or passion in it, consider a different path.

It’s possible that in your heart you know being an astronaut is the only job that will satisfy your purpose in life.  Drop those economics textbooks and pick up a helmet!  It’s time to go to Mars!