Making the Right Decision

By Dorothy J. Hill

Making the Right Decision

Decisions, decisions, decisions… Life offers the opportunity to make decisions for every moment that takes place. Whether it is for school, a job, or your family, a decision always has to made for something. Lately, I have found myself having some difficulty in making certain decisions. Most of it really stems from the fact that I am being rather stubborn about being an adult, to be brutally honest. But, in spite of that, I still conduct myself accordingly because no one is going to respect someone who acts like a child. I figure, I can go have my moments to scream it out at home and not worry about someone else’s reaction, other than my mom trying to figure out what’s wrong me. But, I digress…

Considering the fact that I am in what I believe to be my final year of undergraduate studies, as a “super senior”, there are a lot of things that I am preparing for. Number one is graduation. I have already achieved so much thus far and I am just one semester away from being finished and earning a piece of paper with my name on it saying I have a Bachelor of Music Performance degree from Saint Xavier University. It’s so close I can taste it. But, then there are those things that come after graduation that I am trying to prepare myself for:
· grad school
· having a job
· paying back student loans
· buying a car
· moving into my own place
· getting married
· having kids
· being an entrepreneur
· becoming a famous musician, just to name a few…

Grad school… It’s that time of year where many graduate programs have their application deadlines. Talk about pressure! Many of the same deciding factors that stood for determining what brought you to the place where you gained your undergraduate degree tend to remain the same, to an extent, for the place where you gain you graduate degree. Of course, you have to keep in mind the cost of the education you want to receive, the location and most importantly, the quality of education you would be gaining from the institution you choose.

At this point, I am strongly set on going to Columbia College Chicago, located in the lovely downtown Chicago area. Now, just going off of what I have learned in life thus far, nothing is ever promised, and though you may have a particular plan set out for some things, don’t be surprised if and/or when your circumstances change, whether it be for good or bad reasons.

In addition to determining what to do for grad school, there is the whole idea of whether or not I will have a job following graduation. Well, I have decided that I can’t really worry about it. I will have to take things one day at a time and just see what happens along the way. However, I am a person with very, very strong faith in my life and my abilities, so I’m almost certain that there will be something waiting for me somewhere, but I won’t know for sure until I reach that road.

Then, there are these other things that have such a strong financial stipulation attached to it. Since, I decided to further my education beyond high school and undergrad that means I have more money to pay back. In hindsight, I really, really wish I had have applied myself in earlier years of education so that I could knock off some of this money, but hey, not everyone gets straight A’s and full rides. Nevertheless, I just take it as a lesson learned which will enable me to make even better decisions in the future. So, on top of the thought of having a job, there is the heavy thought of how to pay back student loans. Well, I must reiterate, I have very strong faith, and I am not even going to worry about it, because I know that everything will be taken care of for me, one way or another.

The next financial obligation is buying a car. I‘ve found during this time of me being a commuter student that public transportation is not for me. Right now, I’m in not in the position to buy a car. It’s unfortunate having to use public trans and here are a few reasons why… When using public trans, it usually takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to get home on two buses and a train versus 20-30 minutes driving. Plus, it is absolutely stressful mentally and physically. With a car, I would be able to travel with ease, for the most part. I wouldn’t have to worry about a passenger causing a delay for any reason, or have to worry about whether or not I will arrive to my destination safely and in a timely fashion. I’d be in control of the situation and not anyone else. It’s really tough sometimes, but you gotta do what you gotta do, ya know? But, I know that when I do eventually buy a car, it is going to be, if not exactly what I want (which is a Honda CR-V 2007 or younger), then it will be quite close to it. What can I say, I have high expectations and I want what I want.

The last few things also have their various levels of financial responsibility. I have given much thought to having a place of my own and moving out of my mom’s house, but then there was another thought that came along with it. On one end, it would be totally awesome to have my own place just so that I wouldn’t have to deal with certain things, and have a little more freedom. On another end, I would be away from my family more and I would probably have to pay for rent or a lease, furniture, utilities, amenities…and why do that, when you can live at home for next to nothing? It’s a big decision to be on your own and responsible for many things. I’ve made the decision that I’ll probably be living with my mom until I’m married. Why you ask? Well, it is tremendously cheap, I can still contribute to the household needs at a much lower rate than I would living on my own, I can save more money that way, and plus, I will still be close to my mom. I’m her only girl, so it’s just one of those bonds that I don’t want to get away from.

Finally, there’s getting married, having kids, becoming an entrepreneur and a famous musician. Who knows when all of this is going to happen, but I know that it will be either sooner or later. Marriage and kids are financial obligations that I have no problems with, as well as the entrepreneurship and fame. I made the decision long ago that these things would happen for me. It just takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears, assertiveness, stick-to-itiveness, and as someone once told me, money.

You decide to take the first step and whether or not to continue along that path or to make a u-turn. However it goes, the decision is yours. No one can force you to do something that you don’t want to do. You are the author of your own book, so make every decision count and make it worth the risk, if there is any. Life is full of surprises and how you handle them is completely up to you. You can either be graceful or erratic, whatever works best for you. Be bold and don’t sell yourself short by choosing not to do something.

Your life… Your decision… Decide to live for yourself and all else will fall into place.

Dorothy J. Hill is a senior from Chicago, IL. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. Dorothy is a Student Ambassador and currently serves as the Training Coordinator at Saint Xavier.