No Regrets - Testing New Waters

I would love to say that I have lived a life with no regrets, but that honestly could not be further from the truth. I am the type of person to second guess, over-analyze, and replay an event or decision in my life 100+ times, trying to figure out if I make the right decision. People often say that I should just trust my gut, but trusting my gut has not come easy because my gut isn't "sure" or "certain"; my gut is spur-of-the-moment and driven by feelings instead of logic. I tend to trust the logic above all else, but that is when regret comes into play. Not everything in life is logical, no, it is certainly the opposite. One can come into anything in life with a plan, and often times that plan gets thrown out the window because life does not follow a plan or set schedule. So in this period of my life, I am learning to throw out my old plans.

Now this is not just me talking; I am living through this decision to drop a life solely lead by logic and take a leap of faith, testing new waters. I came into college with a plan: go to school for four years, graduate, become a teacher, and start a family. Now this still could be the way my life goes, but I am also listening to this other side of me that has dreamed of a life of designing, creating, building, and innovating. There has always been something inside of me questioning if I should go into a "creative" field, but I already had my life planned out and did not want to ruin that on a spur-of-the-moment decision. Well here I am, not ruining the plan, but deviating from it. Two weeks into the semester I dropped a class and started taking an studio class for architecture. Now if you know anything about architectural classes, this is not just some small switch; this is a class that keeps students in the studio all day and into the night to finish projects. It is an investment of time, money and energy, but also an investment into living without regret. This new career option could work out for me, and I could end up changing my major, but there is also a good chance that this class will just give me the clarity that I am made to teach and inspire kids. I do not know where this will take me but I know it is worth the journey.

So I want to encourage anyone living with regret, or wondering if their decisions may lead to regret, to just try it; take that leap. It does not mean you have to dive in fully, just dip your toe in. What is there to lose? Explore the "what-ifs" in your life, so you do not have to question it anymore, you just know. Find your passion, mix things up a little, and feel free to deviate from the plans you have made because God does not follow your plans, He follows His. Seek His plan for you and not your own; it may not seem like the safe route but it will certainly be the best route.