Looking Forward

Hello kind krafters!

            It’s that time of year again that most of us begin looking forward and preparing for the business to come in the form of a new semester, new classes, maybe a new school, and for some of us a new season of work or phase of life in which we are no longer rushing into September in pursuit of academic goals.
            For the first time since I was child starting pre-primary, I will fall into that later category. This time around, September does not signify the start of another round of orientations, classroom “get to know you” games, paper writing and exam taking. Instead, for the first time this September will signify nothing but a shift in my working schedule and a move towards cooler temperatures and extra layers. This September I won't be returning to classes.
            But, as some of you who know me personally may be asking, you haven’t graduated yet! You still have classes left to complete! And that’s true. Instead of taking classes this September, I will be finishing off my last three course requirements in a Natural Resource Studies Program, on an island off the coast of British Columbia. In January, as the grind of classes once again starts anew, I will be flying to Haida Gwaii, and ending my University career studying what I love, in a way I have for a long time yearned for. 

Where I’ll be heading this upcoming January for the Haida Gwaii Natural Resources Program
photo source: http://hghes.ca/natural-resource-studies/

​You see, while I have always excelled and done very well in school, it has also always caused me a lot of stress and in the last few years, a great degree of restlessness. As I’ve sat in university lecture halls, in classes of my own choosing, I have noticed myself wishing I was beyond those walls, doing something, see something, feeling the fresh air and sun on my skin, instead of staring at my computer screen writing a paper or reading a too long homework article.
            When I started university five years ago I studied philosophy and literature. It was wonderful reading more books than I ever had before, discussing particular passages, pulling them apart like pieces of bread, flaking off into new discussions and thoughts and ideas at every turn. But I very quickly understood that an academic life was not for me. I did not want to spend my life writing essays and reading books that made my brain work so much that I stopped enjoying their words and images. And I did not want to sit inside writing or reading or attending lectures and conferences, when there were things outside I could be doing. It was at the same time that I discovered hiking and biking and outdoor adventure, and more importantly discovered the deep love I have for these things. Going hand in hand, I changed major’s a few times, jumping from Anthropology, attempting Marine Science, and finally settling on what has become my university haven in the form of the College of Sustainability at Dalhousie. 

My time without classes and homework in the next few months will definitely include as many views like this as possible!

In this process I began to see school differently, as I began to understand myself and the desires I had for my life. I want to be outside any and all of the time, I want to move and see and feel the world as I experience everything I can of what it has to offer. As a result, I don’t necessary intend to jump into a pursuit of a job that requires a specified university degree. This was liberating for me, someone who always felt the need to be the very top, the very best in school, and as a result was devastated when I didn’t hit a particular mark or like the path I started down in a particular subject. So instead, I decided to let school, that thing I was very literally paying to attend, be something I would enjoy and pursue for interest and insight and knowledge, as opposed to necessary for grades, a particular career path, and requirements of a specific view of success.
    SO in other words, I declared a major in Sustainability, to learn more about my planet and my role in it. I started not doing homework on weekends, and instead using them for fun. I stopped letting homework make me say no to plans and activities, instead making myself be more productive with the time I had, and letting go of some of my perfectionism. And it worked out pretty well.
   I kept my high GPA, I run a half marathon, I hiked more than ever and ending up doing a whole project around this passion of mine. And, taking a step I had put off for a couple of years thinking I would not get in, I applied to the Haida Gwaii program and got in. Now, to my utter delight, I will spend my last credit hours for my undergraduate degree, in a beautiful and wild place, studying and interacting with the natural world I so wish to be in. If you can’t tell, I’m pretty excited looking forward at what is to come. 

Views from one of my first homework free weekends, I went out for a sunset hike and left my paper writing for another night. 

What are you looking at?
And now I want to hear from you, dear kind krafters. What is up and coming in your life? What are you looking forward to? Are you starting school in pursuit of something you love? Continuing classes on the way to your personal dreams? Beginning your dream job? Doing something totally and completely different? Whatever it is I want to know all about it!

And as always,
Stay Kind,
Niki 💚