Sunflower

If you don't feel like reading this post, the tl;dr is:

School is hard, and I'm gonna start writing fiction again.
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For those who don't know, I recently graduated college. While I suffered a bit of an internal struggle those four years with figuring out what I wanted to commit my life to, I don't for a moment regret my decision to earn my bachelor's degree in English.

Okay, maybe that's not completely true. These past few years have been filled to the brim with self-doubt. I mean, just Google "most useless college degrees", and you're bound to find an English degree wedged between theater and sociology in some Buzzfeed-tier article.

Does this infuriate me? Ehh, kinda? I'd say it does because there are many layers to what Chaz from Reddit is implying about a degree he's never earned. I'm not here to sound triggered or anything. That's not really my style, though it admittedly used to be.

On its own, I'd say there's some merit to graduating with a four-year college degree to begin with; not many people have done it, and my own personal college experience stands as a testament to this fact. I'd say that I've had plenty of friends in my college career, but if I had to pick the closest friends I made in college, I'd say there were about eight of them:

Lestat-- Mathematics major, dropped out

Zach-- Music major, flunked out

Simon-- Film major, dropped out

Jeremy-- Mathematics major, flunked out

Caroline-- Professional dancing major, dropped out

Heidi-- Costume design major, moved away with her boyfriend, and probably dropped out

Cass-- Professional acting major, dropped out

Colin-- Biology major, long story, but he basically dropped out

And sure, I made plenty of friends that were able to graduate, but those I found myself closest to weren't so fortunate. When I make my grand post about my college experience, I'll speak more on this, but the fact is that I stood around, watching the people I relied on drop like flies. The large group of people I called my friends dwindled, as I was powerless to save them. They moved on with their lives, I guess, and I'm happy for them.

But this is what I'm trying to say-- no matter how "useless" or "easy" people perceive your major to be, college isn't easy. Finishing your four-year degree is a mark of mastery standing as the equivalent of saying "hey, I went to school, didn't skip classes, stayed focused, I didn't oversleep, and made decent grades".

To me, making it to the end of that four-year grind shows that the person who graduated is wholly committed to their field of study, and that says a lot. There's this level of determination that is often overlooked when considering a college degree, and that's what graduates like myself have the right to proudly claim.

Here's where I insert my generic motivational speech-- No matter what you choose to study in college, so long as you're committed to what you do, you'll be successful. Times will be hard, and some days, you'll wanna just sit at home and watch Netflix, but if you push through, a promising career is only one of many rewards you'll find on the other side of your adventure.

Something I've come to realize in my life is that romantic love is nothing compared to achievement. With love, you must understand the risks involved; there's always, without a doubt, a possibility to lose everything in the blink of an eye. One mistake can cost you everything, and when it's over, all you'll be left with is a crumbled castle-- ruins comprised of grated self-esteem and a lot of time lost to the universe, only being succeeded in the minds of those who are emotionally-insecure enough to hold them until their last breaths.

Achievement, on the other hand, is eternal. Until the end on one's days (and possibly longer), a persons achievements and contribution to humanity is what will be remembered, and that's impossible to strip away. I'd say more, but I think you get the point.

And what have I been trying to say this whole post?

Well, as an English major, it probably doesn't come as a shock to you that my minor is creative writing. I mean, writing kinda comes with the territory of tackling a major like mine, so the minor was a no-brainer.

I've always adored writing, and I hope this fact is made more apparent to my commitment to writing my deepest early morning ravings on a blog nobody reads.

It's a thing I love, even if I'm not the most talented writer out there. And as such, I've yearned for a way to express myself outside of this blog.

For this reason, I'm continuing my creative writing ventures outside of the classroom! I've chosen to expand on a series of writings I started in school, unofficially titled "The Ravenous Series". I'd like to post some of my drafts here! Maybe I'll add a separate section to my blog so my writings won't clog up the actual post feed.

Anywho, if you feel like this post had zero purpose, you'd be right. I was just rambling, like I usually do. :)

Best,

Jacob