Growing up, children are told that they can be whatever they want to be

This is true until the reality of college comes crashing in and parents push you to start pursuing lucrative degrees outside of the creative routes that some children would have chosen otherwise. I mean your parents want what's best for you, right? To be successful and financially free and to be able to take care of them come retirement, am I right? There is nothing wrong with anyone's parent's wanting that for their children. So, Wendy decided to trust her parents' advice and went down the sensible and successful path.

Wendy was always a studious and extremely ambitious girl. While acing college, she found herself yearning to sell everything she owned and travel to South America. Wendy loved to learn and saw the benefit of education, but she also saw more to life to just going to college, getting a career, being successful, buying a house, getting married, having babies, guiding them through life and then eventually dying of old age. She absolutely hated thinking that was the path that was set out before she was basically decided in what order what should happen. If this was truly her life and she had a free will, shouldn't she be able to dictate who she moves through life? The answer felt obvious to her.

She wanted to keep driving and keep going wherever the wind took her. She would buy one-way tickets to places she never been and stay there as long as her heart desired. She hated the grind that everyone did 40 hours a week for 40 years and THEN if they made it to that point in life and planned well for retirement, people then enjoy their lives.

This wasn't good enough for Wendy. Life could be different, she didn't have to fit that American social construct of a life. America is the land where dreamers come to make their dreams come true; the land of the free. So, Wendy fantasized and played out this dream of leaving her basic life for a lifelong road trip in her head. Didn't seem illogical, but definitely would not a popular idea amongst her parents if she told them she would be dropping out of college for an LOA to travel the world. "See you when I get sick of taking in the world," Wendy daydreamed.

One day, she found herself sharing with her boyfriend, at the time of 3 years, her dream for her life. She was hopeful that he would say, LET'S DO IT and be her plus one in the life she wanted to lead.

"LET'S SELL EVERYTHING, BUY A VW BUS, YELLOW, AND DRIVE SOUTH TO MEXICO, THOUGH MEXICO TO SOUTH AMERICA AND JUST KEEP GOING UNTIL WE NEED TO BUY A ONE WAY TICKET TO GET TO THE NEXT CONTINENT/COUNTRY AND CONTINUE THAT JOURNEY" -Wendy

He told her she was crazy. He shot her down. This crushed Wendy's soul the way it almost feels when your stomach drops because the roller coaster ride went up and down way too fast. Wendy later broke up with him for not sharing that same dream, it devastated her that someone she loved couldn't see how important that dream was and that if she was going to be in a relationship with someone, he needed to be on board.

Of course, Wendy knew hard work is a part of life and isn't looking for an escape exactly, but she wanted to work hard around the globe experiencing everything life has to offer. She wanted to see new things and meet all kinds of people. Wendy wanted to eat food from all kinds of cultures and learn new languages. She desperately wanted a life that supported that dream.

However, Wendy decided to finish college and her academic and professional ambitions. She needed money if she was going to ever succeed in her dream playing out. Tabling her crazy dream, Wendy graduated college with Honors and found herself a career in her field of interest. This made Wendy proud as most people always told her that she would never be able to do anything with her degree. The trend is your friend, and if she keeps making the impossible possible- this was a great start!

Missed the Beginning of the Story? Check it out & upvote!

1. https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@defenderofman/my-name-is-what-my-name-is-who-i-choose-to-be
2. https://steemit.com/writing/@defenderofman/when-wendy-met-peter

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about something you wanted to do as a younger you? Is it something you actually did? Or no? Is it something that you still want to do? What's stopping you? Think of the first two action steps to get the ball going for what it is you want to do and go!

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