I am a firm believer that in life you need to love what you do. Everyone has heard the saying “love what you do and you will never work a day in your life,”and I am determined to follow that. With this goal in mind, I made a change at the end of my freshman year that has brought me infinite amounts of joy and the closer to making my goal a reality.
Freshman year was a blur. Between the heavy Covid-19 restrictions, the virtual classes, and the confusion about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, I was very lost. I was majoring in Exercise Science, and while I really enjoyed it, I wasn’t sure that I would love every day of work as a physical therapist. It just didn’t spark that light inside of me.
I started to search for majors and career paths that inspired me, and with the help of Maisy Carvalho, The Spectrum Editor-in-Chief of 2021-2022, I chose Media Arts: Film and Television. I signed up for my classes, and as sophomore year began, I was struggling with not being a “science girl” anymore. I had taken STEM or medical-related classes all through high school and to not take a single one anymore was very new to me.
While adjusting to a new major was tough, it was harder trying to explain to my family what my new major was. My family was also struggling to understand what kind of job I would get in this field. To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to do, but I did know that the classes were interesting and I actually enjoyed every part of my education. The homework was fun, the classwork was collaborative, and everyone enjoyed being there. This was the kind of environment I wanted to spend my life in.
I will always be the first one to admit that my major sounds fake and even though it is not as clear cut as Exercise Science/Physical Therapy, I love what I do. I wake up every day and can’t wait for my classes. I
would gladly spend hours in an editing booth or a whole day producing a TV segment. I feel like this is a good sign considering this is the kind of career I am looking at for my career life, and I can’t wait for it.
I have a personal opinion that if you are not giddy about each day, you need to reevaluate what you’re doing. Was the change scary? Yes. Did I use humor to cope with the change? Again, yes. But what I have learned is that I have the strength and confidence to believe in myself and make a change that makes me happy. Who knows what the future has in store for me. Maybe I will end up living in Hawaii, marrying the man of my dreams, or directing my own TV show; I know that I will be doing what I love because of how much I prioritize it.
