leah-ashton

Yesterday, I spent Easter lunch with with Caity Stuart, her family, and some friends of ours. It was a great time of food, relaxation, and conversation. During the course of the meal, something was said by Caity’s dad, Larry, that really stood out to me. We were talking about how many of us at the table were getting ready to graduate and that soon we’d be out of the “current” that we’ve been in for the last four years. Larry defined this current as the classes, professors, friends, etc. here at college that have been a force in taking us through the process of picking a major, studying that field, and pursuing it as a career. He said that for the majority of our time in college, we ride this current having a pretty good idea of where it’s taking us and what it involves. While of course we have to work hard while in school, we know that the current will always be there (at least for the next four years) so we don’t have to put too much thought or effort into where it goes. Soon however, for those of us graduating, we’ll be pushed into a current-less river filled with people swimming in all different directions. We won’t have a defined current to automatically take us where we want to go. If we want to continue on a path to our goals and dreams that we’ve been working for during the last few years, then we have to start our own current and keep it alive long enough to make some progress.

So basically, I want to challenge myself and anyone reading this, to make our own current. Or, if you’re already in a current taking you where you want to go, keep it going- don’t stop swimming! We are all called to do great things, not necessarily in size, but in meaning, and we won’t always have someone or something (i.e. a university full of people) to guide us. For those of you getting ready to graduate, we only have a few more weeks in this current and right now we’re being led to a waterfall. Once graduation hits, we’ll be sent over the edge and forced to decide where we want to go and how we want to get there. I want to encourage you to make a current that keeps you doing something meaningful and something that you can be passionate about. During this time of entering the unknown, make a current that not only guides your desires, but one that gets other people excited about what they’re doing with their lives as well. It’s not always going to be easy, and there will most likely be sore muscles and lots of swallowed water, but fighting (or in this case, swimming) for your dreams is a whole lot better than floating on your back in a pool of complacency (had enough of the analogies yet?). It’s a sink or swim world out there, so in the wise words of Dory from Finding Nemo, just keep swimming my friends, just keep swimming.