Why I Went to College

After attending my last class ever!!! 

Since graduating a week ago, this is how my conversations have gone with people:

Them: What did you get your degree in? 

Me: English language

Them: oh, cool. so do you want to like teach or something?

Me: no, not really. I don't have a lot of exposure to teaching, but from the little I've had, I'm not super interested in it. 

Them: oh, ok. So are you going to grad school? 

Me: no, I've never felt like that is something that I should or need to do. And I have no desire, so I don't think I would be going for the right reason.

Them: well you never know, maybe you'll change your mind. 

...no, I probably won't. But no, I don't think I wasted my degree either.

(OR, one time I got: soo, why did you go to college?)

       Don't worry, if you're one of the people whom I've had this conversation with, I'm not offended! It's just true--I don't know what I'm doing with my future. But I do have long term goals with Taylor, and I know I'm on the right track for them. 

      If you know me you know I'm a "well-rounded" person. No, I'm not trying to sound stuck-up, I just don't know how else to word that I just kind of have a lot of random interests, hobbies, random work experience (let's just say the Missionary Training Center and Shabby Apple both reside on my resume, and I have a minor in dance--which has nothing to do with my major), etc. That being said, I really don't have an exact "next step" because I don't know.

      Again, if you know me, you know that I am probably the farthest from being a feminist that you can get (you can start throwing stones now, but I would gladly accept the stones while wearing an apron and cleaning my house). My whole life I have loved anything domestic: cooking, cleaning (really, I really love cleaning. It's weird), baking, sewing (loooove sewing), crafting, etc. I personally have no issues with "traditional" gender roles in the home because that' personally what I wanted to be. My whole life I've known that I want to be a mother and a wife above all things. Now, before you start gagging thinking I'm a typical Provo Mormon girl, let me explain.

       I 100% value the idea of having a mom be in the home. I place a high value on being a stay-at-home mom because of personal experience. However, I also 100% value education and being prepared educationally and financially for the future. 

      It has always been my plan to get a degree. I have never known what exactly I wanted to "be" when I grew up, but I knew I should get an education after high school. To be honest for half of my college career I thought I wanted to be an editor. I love grammar, I love knowing all the "rules" of language, and I love words. However, the more I learned about editing, the more I learned I didn't want to be an editor. So I wasted all my time, right? Because what else does someone who spent 3.5 years studying language do for a living? Good question! 

     I'm honestly really happy and proud that I have a degree. I have no idea what I want to do with it yet, or if I will ever work with it. I'm actually really interested in using my minor and starting a little kid dance program. We'll see if that happens. But again, I don't know right now. 

    I've decided that I want to be more concerned with who I want to be than what I want to be. I thoroughly enjoyed studying my major and my minor at BYU. I met awesome people, I learned so much, and I completed (what was for me) a very hard task of getting a degree. So while I don't know what exactly I want to do next in the job-field, I know that I have gained a lot of experience the past four years that will help me in my long-term goal of being a mother, and it will also help me to continue to try to be a loving and supportive wife to my sweet Taylor. 

     In the end, I want to be a good person. I want to continue striving to be a faithful member of my church. I want to be a good wife. And eventually I want to be the best mom I can be to my kids when I have them. I don't feel like I wasted my time or money at BYU just because I'm not necessarily continuing on exactly where I left off. I know that everyone has a different path to take in life. I think it's wonderful that so many people, particularly women, have a set plan educationally and career-wise from the get-go. But I've learned that's not how things are going to play out for me. And that's ok! 

     So, that is why I went to college. Because education is important. Because you never know what will happen in life so you should always be prepared for the unexpected. Because I enjoyed college, and I was able to meet my husband during college. Because "Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection."

So that's why I went to college and got my degree! And that's all :) 

Enjoy the rest of your holiday!!!