on risk-taking to achieve your dreams. It was for my English
final exam written portion, in the form of a synthesis essay (analyzing
documents, etcc to prove a point; gross). But ever since that paper, I’ve been
noticing that dream-following has become a motif in my recent (as in this week)
life. Not necessarily my following the dreams, but the concept of
dream following. It’s been a strange coinkydink…. a lot of conversations have
taken that “what is your dream?” pathway (not a dramatic sense but ya know,
conversational) and I’ve come across multiple articles while randomly skimming
through the newspaper and magazines at home during my procrastination that have
to do with taking the risk to follow dreams and the more recent letters I’ve
gotten from colleges have been from colleges that I’d like to but didn’t think
I could rEaLiStICaLly go. It’s been weird, lemme tell ya.
But this coincidence got me thinking….deeply… “Do I follow
my dreams? Oh good question.. but what are my dreams? What do I want?” and
after much pensive thought, I still have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA. And that’s
perfectly ok.
I made lists though, of things I KINDA have dreams about.
But I can’t pinpoint exactly 1 thing because each has pros and cons. And these
lists aren’t really organized because I’m not your typical list-maker…
basically this is just a compilation of my thoughts as the come across my mind.
Enjoy.
College
Part of me really wants to go out
of state…
The other part doesn’t because of
my family..
But ya know what?! That hasn’t
stopped me from DREAMING about colleges…
·
Harvard
University…. HAH. I don’t even know
if I could get in. But it would be SO cool to just say “I got in”
·
Or Brown…
like Serena (XOXO)
·
UNC,
Chapel Hill… Definitely applying there. North Carolina is my heaven on
earth and I would love nothing more than to go there. I’ve got some family
friends who do and it just looks and sounds like the most amazing college
experience. Think about it… challenging academics, good social, outdoors
activities… mountain biking, rock climbing, bouldering, paddling, hiking, trail
running…the options are ENDLESS. At first I had my heart set on an Ivy League,
I don’t know why. Those are insanely expensive and I’ve heard the people can be
snobby (maybe some but I’m sure I could find a niche) but it was just a fun
dream. Now, however, UNC has my heart.
·
Clemson….
Another one of my LOVES. I’m definitely applying there also. Everyone I know at
Clemson happens to be some of my favorite people in the world and biggest role
models and I just think it’s a school that attracts wonderful, smart, joyful
people. And that’s who I want to be surrounded by. Oh, annnd it’s in the
mountains too… And has fun football…
·
UGA..
SEC school -CHECK. Good football team -CHECK. Fun Greek life -CHECK. Near
mountains -CHECK. Strong academics -CHECK. Fun people I like -CHECK. (noticing
a trend here? Is it just me or has ‘check’ stopped looking like a word for any
of yall? Oh wait this is my blog, so there’s no yall, it’s just me, silly
goose.)
o
Main
problem… with all of the schools
I’ve listed is MONEY. I’m pretty sure I could get in to at least the latter 3
because my grades have been good, mostly… (Ivy’s probably wouldn’t like the C
and B in the math section on my transcript…dang geometry… I’m good at it now,
just then it was SO hard…). I’m about to take the ACT again (been actually
preparing for it this time) so hopefully I can get a few points higher than
last time (aiming for a 34-35) but
really, money is an issue. I’m just going to apply for plenty of scholarships
etcc for wherever I go just to see if I can get to any of these places because,
well, with 8 kids my parents aren’t going to be able to send me away without
some serious financial stress and I’m not going to do that to them… But dreams
are about risks, and I won’t know unless I try, SO I’m going to try.
·
LSU… GEAUX
TIGERS!!!! I dreamed about going there from when I was younger, but now, I just
don’t know. A lot of my friends are planning to go there and probably will, and
I’d love to be with them, but part of me also wants the freedom of separation
to enable myself to grow more fully. Maybe that’s just ridiculous but c’est la
vie. LSU DOES have one of the top (if not the best) landscape architecture
schools in the country and they offer lots of opportunities to study abroad,
both of which are major factors in my college choices (I have no idea what
major I’d like but landscape architecture seems like a good fit for me).
·
Texas
A&M
·
Baylor
University- I’ve got some friends who will KILL me if I don’t apply there…
so keeping that one on the list. And they’ve got a nice rock gym and a decent
fashion program, which are both big pluses for MOI!
Other dreams… because college
isn’t the only thing to dream about
·
Mission work.
o
I don’t know if I want to take a year off
between highschool and college or wait until after college, but I want to
dedicate at least half if not more than a year to mission work. Don’t know
which organization, don’t know where. It can be here, Haiti, Thailand, or
India; anywhere where there is a need I want to fill it.
·
World hunger
o
I want to end it. Not single handedly, but I
want to do my best to fix world hunger. I don’t know how. But I think there’s
definitely something to be found in sustainability researching (hello
biology/landscape architecture/environmental engineering) and I’d like to work
to find it. It’s an issue that stems from poverty which stems from lack of
education. Basically, can I just fix all of the world’s problems? That’s why
part of me wants to be a teacher, but the problem with that is teacher salaries
are so low that I don’t know how helpful I’d be able to be. But then again, if
you don’t start somewhere nothing ever gets done, so maybe starting small is
the way to go. I’m gonna pray on it.
·
Health
o
I believe in health. Not for being skinny, just
for being ‘right.’ For people to feel well, live their lives to their fullest
potentials, be happier and able to contribute more fully to our world. No, I
don’t want to be a doctor, but maybe a nutritionist or dietician. I have this
dream to open up a place that combines my passions into one business… It’s a
health food/local food shop and restaurant+yoga/yogalates/cross-fit
studio+physical therapy/alternative medicine center, completely energy
efficient, with a roof top garden. SOUNDS like a giant clinic, and maybe it
would be, eventually, but I’d like to start it out as something small. I’d want
it to be a place where people of all backgrounds could come together to work on
their fitness and wellbeing with a sense of community. It would have both
indoor and outdoor sessions, offer classes in cooking and nutrition as well as
yoga, crossfit and other exercise programs, offer physical therapy and
alternative medicine (acupuncture, etcc) and just promote healthy lifestyle.
Then, I’d want to take annual or semi-annual trips with the staff to either
areas around the country or other countries as mission trips to promote and
enable better, more healthy qualities of life for lots of other people. It’s a
big dream, I know, but it just is everything I want in a career… people,
health, helping, activity, outdoors, challenge, creativity…
·
Family
o
I want a big, happy family. I don’t need us to
be rich, or live in a certain part of town. I just want us to be happy and
loving and have fun with eachother. And I want my husband and I to love
eachother in the same way I’ve seen my own parents…
·
Careers… there’s too many (not just that
super-health studio thing)
o
Fashion design… I have drawn pages and pages of
dresses and pieces…. Just can’t give up on that yet…
o
Other stuff but there’s no time.. more later.
Live in such a way that you don’t need wishes because you’ve
made them come true already. I’ve got big dreams and I plan on making them come
true.
