Adventure

It seems we spend a great deal of time telling kids they can do whatever they want when they grow up.  But then they grow up, and we measure their career paths based on aptitude tests and college majors.  When a student begins college, there is a push to choose a major and to choose it quickly lest they have to stay in school longer.  And when they graduate, we expect them at 20, 21, 22 to know what they want to do with the rest of their lives and to get jobs based on that.

Why?  Why is this necessary?  And why does this drive to find what I'm supposed to do in my early adult years hold people back from moving on to other things?

I find people praising my "bravery" in making the choice to leave my job and go back to school.  And I find people denouncing my "stupidity" in making this choice.  Both have the same focus.  I am leaving a stable career path for the unknown.  And somehow, we have come to a place where there is a stigma associated with such a choice that makes it seem adventurous to some and ridiculous to others.

I set out on my adventure toward something different than expected early in my life, and I have never looked back.  I didn't expect to be in this job at all let alone for as long as I have.  I'm sure some of my friends from high school would be surprised to know where I am at in life.  Working with kids and loving it?  Crazy talk, I say!

But then I tend to not be who people think I am.  I try very hard to be open and honest about who I am; that doesn't stop people from assuming, stereotyping, and misjudging.  Don't judge a Lisa by her cover, folks.  There's a lot packed into this tiny person.  A huge part of that person being someone who lives for adventure.  I get bored easily, but boredom, my mom always told me, is a choice.  I can choose to stay in one place staring at the wall until mushrooms grow around me or I can get up and pave my own way in life.

I don't mean to tell you that you must get up and go wander.  Wanderlust can be a very destructive thing.  But if there is no reason for you to not try something new other than fear, why let fear hold you back?  Someone once asked me what I had always wanted to do but had never done because I was too afraid to do it.  Honestly?  Nothing.  There are things I am afraid to do, but either I don't have a desire to do them anyway so I don't or I desire to do them and I do.

I've always wanted to go to Bible school and to live in Wyoming.  Two life dreams I remember talking about with friends in elementary school, so when I say "always," I really mean it.  I don't remember a time when these weren't interests of mine.  So now I'm doing them.  I might hate it.  I might love it.  But I will not regret it.  If I get out there and discover this path is not the one I am meant to continue following, I will still be able to say, "I tried it, and I know it was not for me."

It's like food.  How often do we say, "That's gross!" without ever having tried it.  I have said it myself on occasion.  But I am also able to admit that I don't KNOW it's gross without trying it.  I just assume it is.  Adventures tend to be the same way.  I don't know it's not going to work for me unless I try it.  A friend told me many times as I was trying to get a handle on college, life, myself, "If it's legal and moral, try it."  Good point.  It's through this process of trial and error that we discover what we love, what we hate, and what we need.  So don't be too afraid to try new things.  You might find you love them.

One of my favorite Psalms discusses fear; I hope it encourages you as well. Psalm 27