Persevering Paige

Throughout my twenty years of life, I’ve spent a good amount of time thinking about what my calling in life is. It has changed since the first time I thought I had it all figured out, and it just might change again, but it’s different this time. This time I know. I have that feeling inside my soul that just sounds like, “yes, this is it”, and it has never felt better. It took me a little longer than most to figure it out, and that’s okay. I thought I knew at 15. I really thought I knew at 18. I absolutely, utterly, and wholeheartedly know at 20.

At age 14-15 I thought I wanted to be a sports writer/anchor. I wanted to be the girl standing ice-side at Verizon Center interviewing my favorite Capitals. Hockey is one of my passions, as is writing, so I found a way to connect the two.

At 18, I thought I wanted to major in psychology, to become a counselor and help people that are suffering. I have been through quite a bit myself, and have always felt called to help people. I didn’t necessarily want to be a counselor, I just loved the thought of pursuing a career in a field where my job was, well, just that, helping people. I couldn’t have been more flawed in my thinking.

I am not exactly sure what made me change my mind on pursuing a career in sports journalism, or as I had previously called it, ‘hockey writing’. I guess realizing how much I wanted to be an english major made me see that I didn’t want to be anything else.

So, what are the reasons I knew I wanted to be an english major?

1.) I am really, really, weird. I can’t find a better way to describe it. I don’t fit in, but I have always fit in during english class. English was always my favorite class in high school, and even more so in college. It isn’t even like a class to me. It is fun.
2.) Words have always connected with me in a much deeper way than usual. They have been the sixth sense that have allowed me to express and connect with the world around me.
3.) My words sound better coming from my hands than my mouth, and it has always been that way. When I am writing a paper, I don’t think about what I am going to say before I write it, I have to write it first. Simply because in most situations, I don’t know what I think until I read what I say. It’s in a sense, backwards.
4.) I cannot count how many times I have been in a situation trying to explain something to someone, and I say, “Hold on, let me write it out because I can’t think of how to actually say it.”
5.) I am horrendous at math…
6.) I get assigned papers to write, and get excited, where as most students want to contemplate why their life sucks. Meanwhile I am like, “A paper?! Woo-hoo!!!!” I told you, I am really, really, weird.
7.) Visiting the Hemingway House in Florida was my most liked and most-filled album on Facebook, as well as one of the best things I have ever done.
8.) I asked for a typewriter for Christmas in 2016.

Honestly, I could go on for hours about why I believe I should be an english major. I, for one, see the english language as a blessing to my life. I truly don’t know where I’d be without the ability to write, which is therapeutic to me.

Above all, I learned that when you find what you want to do, and I mean what you really want to do, you will feel it within you. Adding to that, I thought at 18 that I had to be a counselor to help others. Turns out, I can pursue something I am truly passionate about and help others that way. No matter what you do in life you have the ability to help people.

Lastly, my name is Paige. Paige. If there’s anyone meant to be an english major, it’s me.