When is the best time to make decisions- either good, bad, or indifferent decisions? I know the best time for me to make bad decisions is when I am intoxicated. That is NOT the time to make life-changing choices. But I am not sure about my "good" decisions. What is a good decision and how long do you have to wait until you know it was a good choice?
I made the decisions to go to graduate school pretty much on a whim. I was talking with a professor at NMSU my last year before I graduated and he suggested graduate school. I had just several life-changing events happen in the few shorts months leading up to that moment (in which I had no control over) and had no idea where my life was going. He mentioned something about how I would do well at graduate school. I said, "OK." He asked where I had thought about applying (I hadn't yet), and I looked up at his wall saw an MTSU poster (as he was a guest speaker/professor the summer before and spoke highly of the program at MTSU), and I pointed at the poster and said, "there." And that was that. I applied. I didn't really have a back up plan if I wasn't accepted into this program; I considered teaching in Japan for a few years if I didn't get accepted, otherwise, I had no idea. You can imagine why I was so ecstatic when I received my acceptance letter.
As for my summer before grad school, I needed a job and intended to work in Atlanta as my parents were living there at the time. The jobs weren't as readily available as I had hoped and one night over bar-b-que chicken and mashed potatoes, I decided I wanted to work at Disney World as that was a dream of mine. That was Wednesday night and on Friday morning my sister and I drove to Orlando and secured a place to stay over the summer as well as jobs at Frontierland in the Magic Kingdom. That summer was fantastic. It was hard as the living expenses were high and I had to secure a second job (and working 70 hours a week to have nothing to show for it at the end of three months is a little ridiculous), but that has been one of the best summers of my life.
The decision to go to the Pacific was also made in a short period of time. I saw the poster and told myself I would go. I heard from Bethany about the trip the next afternoon, emailed Dr. Frisby, and clicked the "accept" button for my student loan to fund the trip in a matter of three hours. I made up my mind that I would go see those WWII sites and that was that.
I would argue that those were good decisions and I would not change anything if I had a choice. I make my decision and I run with it, that's just how I roll. I have to start making some decisions about my future and that has thrown me for a loop. Jet-lag hasn't really helped my thought process, either. But it is my feeling that we don't have much time on this earth (what, like 100 years at most? I've already used like a quarter of that time, too) and we have to make the most of the time we are given. I've got nine months left of graduate school (I hope!). I have decided that I want to see more of overseas while I am young and unattached. I am guessing Europe with a GS job. I can't say exactly what I will do, but when the opportunity presents itself, I'll know it and will run with it. Regardless, I'm flexible. And spontaneous. Maybe a posting from next month will read "My life in India." Who knows?
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