According to the Penn State Division of Undergraduate Studies, 75% of college students change their major at least once before graduation. A few weeks ago, I became a part of that 75% when I switched from being a journalism major to a human relations major.
Honestly, I never thought that I would. My personality is very very stubborn, so changing majors was not something I even considered. Even though I refused to acknowledge it, I think I began subconsciously thinking about it as early as the beginning of the fall semester. Yea... that early. I began taking a journalism course and felt that I wasn't really enjoying it, or at least not as much as all the other students. But I always brushed the thought away, using an excuse like, Oh it's just cuz it's the beginning of the semester, I'm sure I'll grow to like it once I get into the swing of things.
But I never did.
I think the thing that made me realize how much I actually disliked the class was a video project I was assigned (I actually blogged about this here!). I realized that journalists need to possess a certain degree of aggressiveness and competitiveness in order to be successful (OK I realize that this may not be true for everyone, this is just from my own observation). And if you know me, you know I possess neither. You have to be able and willing to chase down people, even if they may not want to talk to you. As someone who values being on good terms with everyone, the thought of having to chase people down until they detest your guts makes me cringe so hard. But even then, I still didn't acknowledge that it may have been time for a major change. And I think the biggest reason for that was pride.
For me, getting into UT as a journalism major was a HUGE deal because UT has the #2 ranked journalism program in the nation. Yes, the ENTIRE nation. If I changed majors, I would be giving that accomplishment up. Like, hello? Why would I give up something that I worked so hard for?!? Right??? Also, I had already told so many people that I was a journalism major and that's what people knew me as, the "journalism major." AND, people thought I was crazy about my major cuz I was always gushing about how in love with it I was. If I suddenly just switched, what would people think?
And therein lay the problem. Why was I obsessing over what other people would think of me? After all, I wasn't pursuing a journalism major for the sake of pleasing others. The major I ultimately pursue depends on what I enjoy and the path God wants me to take.
I think one of the reasons why people are so hesitant to switch is precisely because of this reason. We're all so scared of how people may view us. We care so much about their opinions of us that we forget what really matters. And that's not just true of switching majors. In almost everything we do, we allow the opinions of others to rule our decisions, and it ultimately brings so much unhappiness. Not only that, but it also obscures our view of God's plan for us. The truth is, the only opinion we should care about is God's. He ALWAYS has the BESTEST plan for us and all the things we do, all the decisions we make should be for the purpose of glorifying Him and making His name known.
So once I accepted that truth, I began praying about a major change. And no, God didn't speak to me in a dream or anything like that. Rather, I felt at peace, excited even, with my decision, and that's how I knew that God was telling me to GO FOR IT! Soooooo I did!! And it felt SO good! I felt that I had so many more opportunities now. In fact, it even gave me room to pursue a Chinese minor, something I had never imagined doing.
I have no idea if I'll decide to switch my major again. After all, it is a possibility. But what I do know is, if I make my decisions with the intent of following God's will and pleasing Him, then I can be confident and at peace with every decision I make.
~jo