mrveitch

“There is a redemptive power in making a choice […] You just decide what its gonna be, who you’re gonna be, how you’re gonna do it. Just decide, and the from that point, the universe is gonna get out of your way […] The first step, before anybody else in the world believes it, is you have to believe it. There is no reason to have a plan B, because it distracts from plan A.”

-Poorly remembered and paraphrased from a Will Smith interview

I caught a lot of flak after graduating for “sitting on my ass”, not committing to a steady job and apparently having no solid plans for my future. You know, the typical post-grad struggle.

I made the decision to join the Peace Corps and nothing else mattered.

 For an entire year before leaving, I bounced around from job to job and even enrolled in a computer science school. I appeared indecisive and immature to most people around me and I suppose their assumptions made sense. Still, no one ever asked me why I did what I did. They observed and interpreted and were quick to label me so that my actions made sense in their heads. I was nominated to serve in the Peace Corps in May, didn’t receive an invitation until November and received a tentative departure date in June. 

“Why are you wasting your education to do nothing for a year to work for nothing for two?”

The truth is that more thought went into this decision than any other that I have ever made.Still, as the year dragged on, I admit that at times I was scared. I found myself questioning my decision as much as everyone around questioned me. 

Was this the right path for me? Am I ready to take my life seriously? Am I prepared for the real world? 

Would I even be accepted?

A week into teaching, I am happy to say that the answer to all those questions is yes.

I have been blessed in ways I never imagined possible. This adventure has fostered in me more growth than any desk job in NY would have; more than the 4 jobs I bounced around in did.

And this is just the beginning.