Four years ago, I sat down to fill out my four-year plan. Ignoring the advice to fill it out in pencil, I wrote in ink the classes that I would take before I graduated. I was to spend my high school career taking AP sciences and never having a free period. I vowed to fulfill my fine arts requirement then never step foot in the Arts Wing ever again.
I had my time outside of school planned as well. Set to play soccer until I graduated, I was determined to spend all of my afternoons out on the fields and my weekends traveling to tournaments.
The start of freshman year went according to plan. I managed to take all the classes on my four-year plan, and I was the starting goalkeeper on the varsity soccer team.
November of my freshman year, things changed. I started getting caught up in making my perfect high school plan work. If something wasn’t in my original plan, there was no way I would do it. I stopped trying new things since they did not fit into the ideal plan that I had established in 8th grade.
I stayed in clubs that I didn’t like. I kept playing soccer despite wanting to try a new sport. Although I wanted to be in different classes, I didn’t take them because they weren’t part of my plan.
I stopped experimenting. I had made a plan, and I had to stick with it.
As I began my sophomore year, I tried to stick with my plan, but I soon realized that if I was going to enjoy my time in high school at all, I would need to make a change.
When I signed up for my junior year classes, only two of my classes were on my four-year plan. I finally quit soccer and joined the weightlifting team. These changes were things that I had always wanted to do, but had neglected to out of fear of the unknown.
When I think of change, I normally think of change that I have no control over. I think of change as being forced to move away from friends or having to grow up and take on more responsibility.
Change is not always involuntary. The scariest changes can be the ones we have to make ourselves for our own happiness.
If something isn’t working, I challenge you to make a change. By making a change, you are guaranteed to have a different outcome than what you were getting in the past. Most of the time, this change will lead to a happier life.
