Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Life Choices and Decision-Making

I'm graduating with my bachelor's degree December 2014 and being the type of person that I am, I've already started planning my future. I keep asking myself what is my next step? I know what my different short term goals are. I'm just not sure which goal I should focus on next. It's terrifying and exciting. There are three main choices but then each one has multiple choices within them.

  • Graduate school
  • Teach English as a 2nd language in a foreign country 
  • Apply to publishing jobs stateside



My original plan was to get my bachelor's degree and hopefully find a job teaching in another country. But my GPA is high enough where I have a decent chance to be accepted in a graduate program and can eventually pursue being a professor, which would be totally awesome. I would teach literature courses and totally geek out each lesson plan then researching authors and focusing on how literature is adapted and influences popular culture is so interesting. Rare books. I would have access to rare books. I could sniff them. Super awesome, right? However, the downside is more school and I might not be able to keep up then it costs a lot of money even if I do get assistance. Another thing is I don't know which school to apply to and been doing crazy amount of research but I would like to move to a city.

Then back to my original plan: teaching English in a foreign country. I would be completely submersed into a foreign country. I would learn so much about another country and get a real idea about their culture. I would travel and see the world. It would be so cool. I've always had an interest in travel and love to hear other people's stories. The downside is it'll be lonely at first. I can't just pack up my best friend or someone I'm close with and tell them "we're going on an adventure! To pursue my selfish dreams and I don't want to be alone." Plus if something happens to my family it'll take an extended amount of time for me to get home. I'm not sure if I can do that to them.

Finally, I discovered I really like publishing in the digital medium. Editing, creating ebooks, just sitting at a computer creating something is exciting. I'm pretty decent at it too and catch on fairly quick to the programs used. Sure the starting pay isn't the best but this is something I'm good at. It is pretty rad and fun. Again I would prefer to work in a big city but that will be a good distance from my friends and family.

Or I could just throw my education out the window and pursue my dream of owning a bakery-cafe. I love baking. I think I'm pretty decent at it. Honestly, I think I'm really good but the ingredients are expensive so I can't bake as often as I would like. But I love it. It is so calming and sharing the things I created is such an awesome feeling. And I completely am in love with coffee, especially espresso. My coffee knowledge is great. But the downside is I don't have the money to start a shop. Plus I wouldn't know where I should put one and I lack the business knowledge to be able to own one.

I have many dreams and aspirations it is exciting. However, each one is a double edge sword and I have no clue which I should pursue next. Sometimes I am jealous of people who have one dream and passionate about it. Though it does not make them better than me it would be much simpler than flipping a coin and wondering if that's what I should pursue next. I've always been indecisive and passionate to try multiple things at least once. I want to live a fulfilling life with tons of adventures and experiences.

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