life's path

"once you start thinking that you have to take a certain path in life you set yourself up for disappointment" these are very "wise" words from a tv character on the show drop dead diva.  lately, not only have i been minorly obsessed with this show (i have to have something to watch as i cut out endless amounts of handouts and paint posters for retreat for girls), but i've been thinking a lot about options.  this show is great! it's about this model who dies in a car accident but then comes back in the body of this overweight lawyer who spends her whole life helping other people.  deb (the model) has to learn how to think about others and how to adjust to her new life as she watches her old life pass her by.

in life we have lots of options.  i was talking to my little sister rylee the other day about her options in high school.  she has the simple choices such as whether she should take 3 years of science in high school, or stay in honor english.  she also has the choice to have a boy friend or to stay single and get to know lots of people.  rylee is a lot smarter than me in some ways.  when i was her age i was CONVINCED that i had 1 path set out for me.  i was destined to end up with my boy friend at that time.  my plan was that we would date until we graduated then he would go on his mission and i would wait for him and get my degree and then a job and then put him through school and then we would live happily ever after. and in the process of all of this i would fix all of his problems, and he would fix all of mine, and we were ment to be, and we would be rich. 

i could not have been more wrong. and i am SO gald my life didn't turn out like that. 

but when it came time to break up and move on (like every high school relationship) it felt like my entire world was going to fall apart.  and how could i not. i thought it was my "destiny" my only option, and now i was going to have to re-route my entire life. very melodramatic i know. 

now that i am older i have fallen in love with all the possibilites that my life could hold.  and i think that is why i am having such a hard time deciding what i want to major in.  or where i want to live in the fall. or if a mission is right for me. 

rylee knows that in high school you aren't going to figure out that 1 set path for you, and in fact i am learning that i don't think you ever really learn it.  life's path is constantly changing and if you set yourself up for a plan that isn't flexible then you are setting yourself up for a lot of heartache and a jolting awakening. 

make plans to live your dreams, but be flexible about it.  things aren't going to go as you planned and the sonner you understand that the happier YOU will be.