Ciao!

It has been quite some time since I thought, "what now?"  Or better yet, "where do I go from here?"  I have always had a very planned out life.  My mother sent us to private schools so that our chances of going to college would be higher and we would be better educated.  Unfortunately, the public school system in my area leaves a lot to be desired.  It started of in elementary school and then I went to a small, all girls, private high school, and then to college.  The last time that I felt like I had no idea what to do next was when I decided that the college I had decided to go to was not for me.

I started my freshman year of college at a small Catholic college because that is what I though I was supposed to do.  I had been going to a Catholic school since I was eight years old and it seemed like the next step was to continue on that same road.  It wasn't necessarily because I was religious but rather because the school was relatively small and not to far from home.  Within a week of being there I knew I wouldn't stay passed that semester.  That was the first time I hit this particular road block.  Do I transfer to a college I can commute to?  Do I look into the college that was my second choice?  The one that my sister went to?  Well, in the end I ended up at my second choice college, the one my sister was attending at the time.

Not knowing what was next or where I would go from there was exciting and terrifying at the same time.  I am currently in that same situation.  I don't know what my next step is.  I just graduated from college a semester early.  Pause for a second and take that in.  My adviser told me that staying for another semester to take on a minor (history) that would not benefit my major (marketing) and then said, "As far as I am concerned, you are done."  That threw me for a loop.  I had planned on staying for my last semester.  My second semester of my senior year.  This was in October.  It is now more than halfway through December and I am still struggling to come to terms with not only graduating but also what my next move will be.

I put off thinking about my next step because I was scared.  I focused on the last couple of weeks of classes, my finals, and my new Netflix obsession: The Hart of Dixie.  I am someone who normally has a plan.  I have my next three steps planned out and contingency plans should any of those steps go wrong.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some idea of what comes next.  I moved back home and I am enrolling in a Master's program but I still don't feel like that is enough.  I need more.  I need to have a better idea of where my life will take me.  

I am either going to learn how to go with the flow over the next couple of months or throw myself into projects that will hopefully lead me to where I need to be.

-Stephanie