Being a very analytical thinker, I have to know how things work. I like to fix things and I love to tinker with stuff. Whether it’s how my engine runs, why someone made a certain decision or how to organize myself, I want to know the most technical details. I won’t say whether or not, I intentionally take things apart to see how they work. Have you ever seen the show “How Stuff’s Made?” Yeah I love that show.
I was a pretty good student up through high school. But I hate sitting in a classroom. I hate being told what to do, where to be, when to be there and I especially hate being told what to think. I want to get out in the world and touch things.
When I graduated high school, I went to Auburn to major in Agronomy and Soils. Surprisingly I had As in all my Crop and Soil classes even though I was a freshman bumped into upper level classes. I failed Chemistry and Economics. Believe it or not I passed Organic Chemistry and Physics, the same semester I failed Chemistry.
Through a long story, I changed majors, had a kid, worked in corporate HR, started a business, and I’m supposed to graduate with a degree in (deep breath) Organizational Leadership and Professional Studies with a concentration in Human Resources in August. Since I did everything in the “wrong order”, maybe it’s time for me to seriously consider settling down and getting married. (Someone catch my mom before she hits the floor.)
Curiosity
When I walked into the Agriculture Department at Auburn, there were 4 women in my major. I probably couldn’t have picked a more male dominated major to go into, unless of course being male was actually a requirement. But you know those guys, never gave any of us any problems. I heard concerns from certain people that we would be teased or bullied over our major choice.
I’m not a girly-girl by any stretch of the imagination but two of the other girls in the Agronomy major were. Odd as it may sound, it seemed like our varying degrees of feminineness were welcomed into the group. We had things to offer that the rest of the group didn’t.
Stretching Our Boundaries
I often wonder why we allow ourselves to be partitioned into boxes, in our minds, by others, in cubicles. It’s probably because they seem safe and warm. But usually what we love and desire isn’t inside those boxes. I never would have moved 7 hours from home at 18, to go into a male dominated major, if I hadn’t stretched myself to discover more about what I loved. Starting a business is also hard, and it requires stretching our skills and selves, like any other muscle. Our natural tendancies, curosity, femininity, masculinity, courage, shouldn’t be repressed. Danielle LaPorte said in The Fire Starter Seasons, “Some of Us Play, Just to Play.”
Finding our dreams doesn’t happen over night. But isn’t it better to play the game by stretching ourselves, than to wonder what it might be like and never venture at all?
P.S. If you need your house land graded or a soil treatment plan, it’s one of my many hidden talents.
