How Graduate School is Like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book

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When I was young, I LOVED Choose Your Own Adventure Books.   Did you ever read them?  They are books that allow you to pick the path the characters will take at various points within the story.  If you didn’t like how the path you choose came out, you could always choose another path.  Until they were re-released a few years ago, they were difficult to find.  I was lucky enough to find a few at a Goodwill store years ago and read them often to my students.  They being able to interact with the stories.

As I am currently on my own adventure in graduate school, I often find similarities between those Choose Your Own Adventure Books I loved so much and my current path.   Arguably, life is like those books, but my life right now is largely graduate school.  Like the books, I find myself on a path I have chosen carefully, thinking it is the right one.  Usually, I am excited about my path and don’t want to have to make another choice.   Then, out of the blue, a point presents itself in my graduate story where I must choose my next step.  Often, I am not ready to make my next choice or am unsure of the correct choice to make.  Regardless, I make a choice and proceed down the next phase of my journey.

As I read the Choose Your Own Adventure Books to my students,  I would often let them discuss what our next choice should be.  My students would talk to one another, seeking guidance from students they trusted to make the “right” choice.  In my graduate story, I do the same thing.  When I come to a decision in my life, I turn to people I trust to help guide me.  I first turn to God in all choices, then my husband and family, and finally to the amazing people I have met on this journey; my chair, Texas A&M faculty and staff, and my peers.  The trust, guidance, and discussion that comes from choosing my next direction has been the most rewarding part of this journey.

Like the Choose Your Own Adventure Books,  I can sometimes start over if I find I do not like a choice I made.  While the book analogy is simple, sometimes simplicity makes it easier for me to understand my life’s adventure.

As I continue on this graduate school adventure, I will be faced with many more choices, but I know as long as I continue to turn to those I trust for guidance and try again when the path I choose is not the correct one, I will be successful.  I am writing my own adventure and loving every minute of it.

When you come to a point in your adventure where you have to make a choice, decide who you trust, ask for guidance, and remember you too are writing your own adventure.