School and Grades

I forgot to mention what I basically live for currently, so I thought I would share. I am a junior at a private college in Minnesota and I study Kinesiology. This college is not the typical post-secondary education experience most people would look for, but it suits my needs quite well. There is not a whole lot of partying going on here, so many people at this establishment turn to academics. I should mention also that this private college is a Christian college so for the few of us here who actually believe what we represent, the experience is what we expected. Still many do their own thing and disobey their commitments, which I do not agree with, but they can do whatever they like as long as it does not interfere with what we all signed up for when we enrolled. This is not what I wanted to talk about though, I would like to discuss my priorities. For as long as I can remember, I have gotten above average grades in school. Starting around 5th grade was the point where I was informed that I would never get a job paying good money unless I continued in the education process. First of all, this is a complete lie. I wish I had not taken so much stalk in what I was being told. This mentality was all-encompassing in every aspect of my life through 11th grade in high school. Nothing could come before my school work. It is unfathomable how much time I must have wasted perfecting techniques and memorizing things I had absolutely no interest in. Some point during the 11th grade, I had a realization that I could spend a lot less time doing homework and studying while still maintaining the grades I wanted. Unfortunately, this did not mean I found something productive that I enjoyed as an alternative to school. Instead, I started playing video games, or rather, A video game. World of Warcraft... I am not sure what to think of all the time I have spent playing that stupid game, totaling up to around 70 days of playing time. So much joy has been brought to my life from that game (pathetic, isn't it?), yet every time I quit I find myself becoming very agitated with the fact that nothing has come out of my playing the game (this might seem irrelevant, but it will tie in soon, I promise). I played WoW off and on into college until about halfway through my sophomore year. This is also the point in my education where I picked a major, switching from undecided to Kinesiology. Of course this is not the most difficult of majors, but it was one of the few majors that I felt I had any interest in. Deciding my major was one of the few large decisions I have made in my life. You may think I am exaggerating, so let me clear any misunderstandings you might have. Here is a short list: my cousin went to the college I attend, so I followed; my mom is Christian, so I am Christian (something I only challenged during college), I have rejected almost all advances from girls, even a couple that I was interested in, I have had the same summer job for the last 4 summers and I hate it, and I have never followed through with vacations through any type of organization, even though I love to explore places I am unfamiliar with. To get back on subject, the first thing I thought of when I chose the major I did was what kind of high paying job can I get with this. It only seems plausible that someone with this type of major would go into coaching or nutrition or something, both of which I would not enjoy. Then I got to thinking Medical School would be where I ended up because I honestly love to help people out whenever I can and it offers more money than almost any other type of job out there. I have already taken many of the per-requisites for med school and my GPA is around 3.94 with experience volunteering at hospitals and whatnot, so I was confident I would not have problems getting into some form of medical school. Then, one day, I realized that spending the next 10+ years studying was not very appealing to me, so I began to reconsider. I also looked at my motivations to pursue such a difficult career, and the prime driving force was the potential salary. Up until this point in my life I thought reaching my maximum potential in terms of money was the ultimate goal. All of a sudden, I realized that nothing in my life that I enjoy requires any substantial amount of money. I am almost embarrassed to say what career I am currently pursuing because it is not a low paying job, but I will anyways. Physician's Assistant. They require less time in grad school, they make substantially less money compared to doctors, and they basically do the same job without overseeing many others. It seems like a dream job. After making this choice, I have made it a commitment to not make actions based on what others think is best for me, rather what I think suits me best.

I honestly can't stand typing this long, so I am ending this post. My next posting will be shorter, I guarantee.