I've been thinking a lot about the future in the past week, especially now that it seems like everyone I know is heading to his designated career fairs. Yay! This column is going to be about another obnoxious kid telling you about how she's always known what she wants to do with her life! False. Relax, overanxious and tense fourth years. This is a column of comfort. I guarantee you'll read this and say, "Wow! At least I've got more figured out than this chick!"
My fourth-year friends say, "Sigs, you're being ridiculous. You don't need to stress; you're only a third-year." Yeah, well tell that to my overachieving peers or that first-year with a 4.0 GPA who has his whole life planned out. Normally, I throw my head back in laughter at these newbies until I meet the ones that you know are actually going to reach their dreams. Yeah, well you need to have dreams before you can reach them.
I've never wanted to grow up. Just call me Peter Pan. I think I'll be waiting a long time before I go to Neverland. In the meantime, I need a contingency plan. Maybe I can blame the fact that I've always been a late bloomer for my lack of post-grad plans. Here's my feeble attempt:
I want to live in the South. City or country? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll compromise and live in the suburbs. Where in the South? I don't know. But I guarantee you'll find me anywhere south of the Mason-Dixon Line. I love the accent. I like my tea sweet and with tons of ice and lemon. Paula Deen is by far my favorite Food TV personality. There's really no other place I belong. I have no desire to travel north of Pennsylvania, or Charlottesville for that matter. That much I know.
My only well-thought-out plan is my future canine companion. I want a dog. Because the mansion I will eventually live in will likely not be my first home, it will need to be a smaller dog. It's going to be a Jack Russell terrier. Her name will be Lucy. Obviously, this is a way for me to hold on to my favorite childhood television show, Wishbone. When I'm not working at my super important, super awesome job, I'll train Lucy to do sweet tricks just like the back flip Wishbone used to do. We'll go on walks and do all sorts of fun things. It will be awesome.
This concludes my list of established plans. Please note that absent from my list of future goals is even the slightest idea of a career path - insert cheesy elementary school poster saying here, right? How about, "It's not the destination, it's the journey" or "It's better to try and fail than never try at all." You know, those posters hung right next to the one that said "wash your hands" in your first grade classroom. They don't just make those sayings up. They hold water, and just as they encouraged me after a failed countless phonetics tests, they will encourage me as I try to figure out the future. As long as I give it a shot, everything will work out, right?
So, relax. Don't feel bad when you pass by herds of people in suits with resumes printed on parchment paper. Feel good about sending those notes to your friend who skipped class to go to the career fair. You're in college and did the right thing by going to class. Ten points for you! So even if you lack the motivation or your fear of the real world is getting the best of you, don't worry. There's always graduate school.
Abbi's column runs biweekly Tuesdays. She can be reached at a.sigler@cavalierdaily.com.
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