Monday, January 4, 2010

A look back...2001

2001 was a really fun year. I was a junior in college at the Univ. of Arkansas, still studying hard but enjoying college life. This is the year that I turned 21 and I celebrated by going out to a local restaurant/bar with some friends. I was not a big drinker at all, so it didn't take many "Hey, let me buy you a birthday shot" before I was way past tipsy. At one point I remember laughing hysterically in the bathroom by myself, and when I came out they asked me what I was laughing at. My response was "The Me in the mirror is really funny." Add that up there with top life lessons and words of wisdom: sometimes you just have to laugh at the Me in the mirror.
I have no idea who this kid is but I thought it was an adorable pic:)

I had just about decided that I didn't want to go to med school, and was searching for what I wanted to be when I grew up. I loved the idea of being a doctor, but realistically didn't want to put in the amount of work and time that a career as a physician would entail. I grew up in a family where work was a means to an end; you worked to earn money so you could play. Careers were never the focus or most important thing in my parents' lives. I'm not sure it's necessarily the best way to look at things, but my view was and still is that I want to have a family, friends and a good home-life first, and work is just a necessary evil. Not the best attitude for a doctor in my opinion, so that was out. Sounds like the perfect attitude for a dentist though right? No fridays, no weekends, no holidays, no on-call, loads of dinero...sign me up! I visited a couple dental schools and took the admissions test and did very well. Then I signed on to work for/shadow a dentist the summer after my junior year of school. HATED IT! I'm not a work-with-my-hands type person, I'm not good at spacial visualization, and I hate the sounds of drills on teeth...what was I thinking?? I ended 2001 with no concrete idea of what I wanted to do with my life.

I was still running a couple miles here and there at the gym, lifting weights and doing the elliptical several days a week. I was in decent shape, but of course was never happy with my body. I thought I needed to lose weight and would alternate between being on extreme diets and pigging out all the time. Not exactly a recipe for health and fitness success. I was definitely still figuring out who I was and what my place in the world was in every area of my life, weight/body/exercise included.

11 comments:

Carolina John said...

Cool series. it's good to be able to reflect on what you wanted then vs what you want now. it really shows you how much becoming a parent changes your perspective, huh?

Erika said...

LOL at the "me in the mirror".

I think most of us were pretty lost when we were 21. Heck, I'm almost 40 and I still have days when I don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

MCM Mama

RunningLaur said...

These are so fun to read!

Brandi said...

Loving the posts girl! I would love to do something like this but scared of what all I may remember from way back when. :)

Lindsay said...

well i know i'm not too far from 21 (all the way at 25) but i still don't know what i want to do! i'm definitely not 'career-oriented' either... i mean, i want to work a good job that interests me but i'm not going to pour my life into it. having fun and making memories is more important!

Abby said...

Isn't it interesting how close we have to get to things sometimes, before we realize that they're not for us?

I applied to law school for the first time as a senior in college, and was two days away from sending in my deposit somewhere before I finally wrapped my head around the fact that I didn't want to be a lawyer (I did end up in law school eventually, but with a much different sensibility by that point).

Looking forward to 2002!

Aka Alice said...

Some of your reasons for wanting to become a dentist are like my reasons for becoming a teacher (no weekends, nights, holidays, or on call). OK...maybe not the "loads of dinero" thing though...although at the time, I was so broke that I thought a teachers salary sounded pretty good!

I love these posts too!

Jess said...

The "me in the mirror" is pretty funny! I was a train wreck on my 21st bday; yet, no matter how painful the next morning was, I still think back on that bday and laugh at so many things that were said and done!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

Great posts, awesome look back!!

Kim said...

Thank heavens for internships, right? They let us see what we are getting into before we get in too deep! I was always surprised by my architectural classmates who waited so long to do an internship. How would they know if they REALLY liked it?

Unknown said...

I think you've got it wrong, we didn't work to earn money so we could play so much as we worked so we could earn money so you and bro could play and get good jobs so you could work and earn money so you could one day afford to continue to play at the level to which you had become accustomed... I'm just saying
Love Dad