Being Boxed in

Everyone knows the feeling of being boxed in.  Similar to driving in traffic and nobody lets you merge to the lane you want to be in, we feel the same way in life.  We feel that our jobs, our friends, our family, our parents etc. have an idea of what we should be doing.  Many times we go along with it for a while but then we get to a point where we know we should be in a different “lane.”  

When I was younger, I often felt this way.  I was easily persuaded to follow a path that I didn’t exactly choose, but I also was not sure enough to dictate the path I would take.  This left me traveling in a direction that I didn’t feel comfortable with but didn’t really know what I wanted to do.  I would think “this isn’t what I should be doing, but I have no clue what I should do.”

Finally I stumbled on a path that seemed like it was the best way to travel.  In this case it was after graduating with a double major in Psychology and Justice Studies.  I had no clue what I wanted to do.  One day at a friend’s house I saw a book on recording studios and record labels and asked him what it was.  He said that his brother was taking classes at the community college to because an audio engineer.  I was fascinated with this area and previously considered this career path.

For some reason there was a voice inside of me that screamed that this is an opportunity to jump on.  I called my parents and told them my new plans to go back to school to take classes.  

I received a lot of criticism about this choice.  Many would say “why in the world would you want to go back for an associate’s degree when you already have a bachelor’s degree?”

For me any input fell on deaf ears.  This was the first time in my life that I felt a pull against what others envisioned for me and made the jump.  Doing so unleashed a drive and passion that made what I was doing feel right for the first time.  I worked harder than I ever did in my life and sacrificed everything I could for this new endeavor.  

This ended up being the moment in my life where I finally broke out of the box that I had been in.  I may have upset a few people but I knew this was the right path for me.  I gave everything I had to this new dream and it taught me all about hard work and humility, passion and focus, disappointment and triumph.  I stopped going through the motions and finally felt alive.