Have you ever made a decision that you felt was so right, only to change your mind and then question the practicality of present and future decisions? I have, and let me tell you it’s one of the most valuable things I have learned being at university so far.
It’s my second year and I’ve switched from three majors in three different colleges, which was definitely not my plan from the beginning. I had a very set vision for myself the months leading up to university- that I would get my degree in four years and know exactly what I wanted to do after graduation. For a while this vision was true, I came as a freshman in pre-dietetics knowing I would graduate in four years and move wherever I could find a job. Although a CNA, I knew I didn’t want to go into nursing, but I knew I still wanted to work in the healthcare field. Lo and behold within two months my major changed to pre-biological/pre-medical illustration (pre-BPMI).
Being in pre-BPMI gave me a sense of relief that I was in a major that was tailored more towards my interests, which made sense because I wasn’t about to spend my time and money at university on classes that I wasn’t interested in. I was in pre-BPMI for a year, but I wasn’t in it long enough to actually submit a portfolio into the program. Suddenly, it became just this spring semester during the first week of classes that I changed my major to pre-graphic design. Why did I keep changing my major? To keep it simple, there were multiple reasons why, such as being honest with myself and experiencing new opportunities.
Now I understand that switching from major to major is very much a common and normal thing at university because I realized: how can anyone expect a senior in highschool to plan and know exactly what they will be doing for a living in 4+ years? Each time I switched majors I became more satisfied, but also upset that I was wasting my time. But was I actually wasting my time?
In one of my new design classes, we were assigned to read “How to Make Mistakes,” written by Daniel Dennett, an American philosopher who graduated from Hertford College at the University of Oxford as well as Harvard. We had to write a reflection over a mistake we’ve made and how we learned from it, and changing majors (multiple times) was the mistake I made; however, it was the mistake I didn’t know I needed to make in order to get to where I am now. In a way, this reading forced me to acknowledge that what I thought was wasted time was actually a learning experience. This assignment from your new class must be a sign this new major is for you, right?! Haha, well I guess you can ask me again in a couple years.
I never knew I needed these mistakes, but now I appreciate them along with this continuously learning/growing mindset. Personally I know while getting caught up in the moment that it is sometimes hard to understand the how’s and why’s, but I also know now that these moments allow me to grow.
For anyone who has made it this far, if there’s any takeaway from this, just know that it’s okay to change your mind.
Keep growing and stay shining, just as you always have. ★★
Written by Olivia "Aurelifera" Oppedal
Commentaires