In 2018, I came to Eastern a wide-eyed freshman excited for what the next four years would bring. Excited to pursue a career in English education, with dreams of becoming a high school English teacher.

Well… kind of.

I came to Eastern with a dream that wasn’t truly mine.

In high school, when I mentioned that I wanted to major in English, the question I always got was, “What are you going to do with that?”

When I mentioned that I wanted to write professionally, I always got the same response: “Don’t you think that’d be kind of hard to achieve? Why don’t you try teaching. You’d be a great teacher.”

After so many conversations like these, I started believing them, and I pursued a career not for the love of teaching, but for the fear of pursuing my true passion and not succeeding.

Being at Eastern opened my eyes to the many career options available for writers, so a semester into my freshman year, I decided to switch my major to English with a concentration in professional and creative writing.

Now when people ask me, “What are you going to do with your degree?”

I hesitantly but truthfully answer with, “I have no idea!”

I will admit that being three years into my college career and still not having a clear idea of what I want to do with my future is nerve-wracking at times, but I’m okay with it.

I have a lot of time ahead of me to figure things out, even when I leave Eastern. It’s not like I have to have it all figured out by the age of 25!

I’m a lot happier now that I’m slightly confused but pursuing the career I want than when I was sure of my future and pursuing a career I didn’t. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I don’t want to be so obsessed with making it in this world that I don’t give myself time to explore all my options. I don’t want to be so worried about my career that I don’t truly enjoy my life. I don’t want to be so scared of failure that I get stuck in a job I don’t want.

All I know is that I love to write, and I want to keep doing it. And hopefully someday, I will get paid for doing it.

As the years go by, I know the rest will work itself out.

Kyara Morales-Rodriguez is a junior English major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].