Wednesday, April 16, 2014

A night on the Potomac

  
Earlier this week, while visiting family in Washington, D.C. I was able to take a nighttime cruise down the Potomac River. It was one of the first truly warm days that I have experienced this year and I greeted the glowing sunset and cool dusk breeze with a smile. It felt like a perfect summer night, especially since I was wearing my summer-night uniform of shorts and a comfy sweater. 
For whatever reason, as I leaned over the bannister that separated me from the dark, murky river water, I was hit with the somber and foreboding feeling that goes with the question, 
"what the heck am I going to do with my life?"
Isn't it just the strangest thing when that question corners you in broad daylight (or dusklight)? I was just minding my own business here, watching the cherry blossoms and memorials on the bank pass me by, when all of a sudden I am thrown into the depths of the unknown.
 
I know I've covered this topic in a previous post... but this is really a huge deal... I graduate in just about a year and I am getting nervous about the future here people and there is nothing I can do about it. I just have to wait it out and make a path to my dreams. 
Prior to entering university, I had accepted that graduate school would automatically be my choice after undergrad... I mean, it just makes sense. 
 However, while enjoying the breeze and the sunset on the River, I was confronted with the realization that I could never see myself spending the rest of my life sitting at a desk everyday (especially if that desk is in a cubicle, or faces a wall without a window). 
I do not think that a life like that would be fulfilling for me.
I'm itching for a new adventure.
I never considered anything like "taking a year off" or taking some time to travel, but at the moment, this path seems very attractive.
But what if I could make that my job? It is possible, isn't it?
What if I truly lived an adventurous life, and every day was full of something new and out of the ordinary?
I think that I could make a future out of meeting new people, going new places and taking in new experiences... What a wonderful life that would be! 
Ideally, my job description would be a mix of photojournalist, storyteller, foodie, renegade, world traveler, biographer and/or explorer.
Right now, my focus is on getting through the rest of this semester, but that sunset on the Potomac really has me thinking of the possibilities of the future and all that can come from them.