Thank You!!!

You know, sometimes I start to feel really crappy about my situation. Sometimes I really feel like a loser. Here I am, 23 years old, on my 3rd school since high school, and I still don't have so much as a bachelor's degree. I have friends who almost have their Master's Degree already, and will be well on their way to their phD's before I even get my bachelor's. I know that some people whose opinions I really care about think that I'm failing at life, because I don't have my piece of paper yet. I don't have that little document that validates me as a functional, successful, adult member of society.

But, then, sometimes when I feel like that, I come across something that uplifts and encourages me. I find something that makes me feel like where I am and what I'm doing is exactly what I should be doing. Today, I stumbled across a section on the MSN page about something called Roadtrip Nation. Several years ago, apparently, there were four college students in southern California who were getting ready to graduate, and still had no idea what they wanted to do with their lives. They saw and heard of people who were doing things that they were passionate about, but had no idea how to get there, and how to escape the drudgery of 9-5 passionless work. So, they pooled their resources, bought and RV and got a bunch of credit cards and took a 3 month roadtrip across the country, while setting up interviews with interesting and successful people. They documented it on their crappy digital cameras and created a documentary about it. Then they went around to college campuses and shared their experiences. They also sold their documentary to PBS stations around the country. They also wrote a book about it. Now, their careers are focused around this Roadtrip Nation concept.

So, anyway, this section had a bunch of interviews with successful people, and quotes and articles, and after reading it, I feel much better about my own situation. These people, including Wanda Sykes, QUESTLOVE, the CEO of JetBlue Airways, all stressed the importance of doing what you're passionate about. The CEO of JetBlue never finished college. Instead, he started his own travel business, which went under. But, the thing was, he was doing what he was passionate about, instead of wasting his time and money on something he didn't particularily care about.

Another article stressed that THERE IS NO ROAD MAP to life. There is not one right way and one wrong way. You do NOT need to graduate high school, graduate college in four years, get a job, get married, and be done. It's OK to not do that. It's also OK to take detours. It's not a race to get to a specific goal. So, you want to take a year and go travel around Europe? Great! Do it! What you'll gain in that year in Europe is probably more than you'd gain doing anything else in that year.

So, I feel better. What I'm doing is OK. So, I took a year off and went to Colorado to try to make a relationship work and to work with troubled boys? GREAT! I learned and grew more in this past year than I would have staying in college and sitting in classrooms. So, I want to leave the country for two years and do the Peace Corps? Awesome! Who cares that I won't be rolling in money and raising a family? I'll be doing something that I love and that I'm passionate about. One of the quotes they had said something along the lines of how it's important to do something that you'll wake up in the middle of the night thinking about. I did that at the Ark. Those boys were important to me, and I cared about what would happen the next day. Even days when I felt crappy, I went to work, because it was important to me.

So, anyways, that's my rant for today about life. Sometimes I wish more people understood.