At age 18, I was not the smartest person when I applied, and was accepted, into university.
At age 22, I was not the smartest person when I graduated from university.
At age 23, I’m starting to realize that basing major life decisions off of what an 18 year old thought was smart wasn’t such a good idea.
I look back at myself and think of all the things I could have done better. Now I’m old enough to know the first thing I should have done was slow down.
I finished Grade 12 and moved to Ottawa at the end of that summer. If I was smart I would have done that extra year of high school and put my degree on hold.
They call that extra year in high school a “victory lap” but it would have really been to get my act together.
One of the recruiters for my university kept repeating his mantra that we should all stop worrying and “figure it out first year” – like that was a simple task. The idea was that if you didn’t like your program you could get your act together and switch. Naturally, it wasn’t that easy for an 18 year old.
I went through my program, changed my career goals a dozen times and I ended up here at Algonquin – and guess what? I found something that I enjoy and like to think I’m at least a little good at.
It took me longer than expected but that shouldn’t come as a surprise. I’m still not the smartest person, but I’m at least smart enough to know that a career is something that can’t be decided all at once.