I Can Say I Took A Chance

This week I'm celebrating my 25th Birthday!  My mom and grandma keep telling me how they can't believe it, and well, I can't believe it either!  At 16, this is not how I pictured my life being at 25.  I imagined I’d be climbing the corporate ladder somewhere and my life would be, well, professional.  I’d be wearing high heels and pencil skirts to work everyday, I’d bring a portfolio to lunch meetings and I’d meet my friends or boyfriend for happy hour and dinner after work.  Okay, so maybe I watch too much TV/movies.  That’s not the point. 

I had a real job before I decided to go back to school and pursue a career I actually loved.  But I wasn’t on my way to climbing the corporate ladder there either.  I hated that job, a lot more than I led on to most, but I was grateful for it.  I was grateful to be working, to be gaining experience and that the job taught me what I don’t want my work life to be like.  

   

You sometimes hear people saying something along the lines of “by the time I was 25 I had/accomplished [fill in the blank]”.  The thing is, I haven’t accomplished anything in my career, yet.  I’m still in graduate school.  I’m still learning the ins and outs of the field I want to be in.  I’m still making connections and growing my network (which I know will never stop).  What I can say I did though, is take a chance.  I took a chance and quit my full time, generous salary-paying job to go back to graduate school and work in athletics.  I took a chance and moved 1,200 miles to Louisiana, having never been there before and not knowing a soul.  Then taking another chance by leaving there and moving on to Georgia, a place I knew in my heart I needed to be.  Though I'm not in a power position and will definitely be working my way up and proving myself for years to come, I definitely worked hard to get to this point in general.  

I know this was the right decision for me- to go back to grad school and be pursuing a career in sports in a whole new place.  I love this place.  I’m happy, excited and filled with fire.  And I think I’ll still be happy when I’m even older and can say, “by age 25, I took a chance”.