It is never too late. We all know this yet few of us really believe it. If you are reading this and are still in school you are likely facing a lot of decision about your future. You are likely thinking that the next step you choose will determine the outcome of your entire life. If you study architecture your life will go one way, become a mechanic and it will go another. Yet the truth is that it is never too late to change your path and pursue new interests, no matter your stage of life. This lesson was taught to a bunch of school children by their bus teacher recently as he decided it was time for a change.
Clayton ward is one of those bus drivers that children love. He is incredibly friendly, chatty and knowledgable. The students would enjoy talking to him about subjects more than their teacher and found he was often just as knowledgable. Clayton is a history buff and if the subject ever turned to history he was hard to beat. The students would often remark that they wished he was their teacher instead. After hearing this remark one too many times, it got Clayton thinking. Could he become a teacher after all?
He did some research and found that if he kept doing the school runs in the morning and evening he could afford to go to community college during the day. He enrolled and was soon top of the class. Clayton graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a number of awards which helped him to enroll in Framingham State to earn his BA and be able to teach. At present Clayton is working towards that degree and once he gets it he will become a history teacher, something he never thought possible.
While Clayton simply took the bus driver job to earn a steady wage he quickly found that it ignited his passion for teaching and mentoring young minds and he loved the discussions that would take place. He never would have thought of becoming a teacher if his students hadn’t forced his hand though. Yet these same students who had the power to convince their bus driver to change his life are likely afraid of taking the first step in theirs.
The truth is that it does matter what road you pick when you leave school. If you choose to go to college or not, if you choose a certain course or not, if you choose to travel or not. All of these decisions will have an impact on your life but it is unlikely that one is really better than another without looking at all the facts. The truth is that whatever decision you make does not determine your entire life, it simply determines that step. Keeping your options open so that you can continue to make changes later in life is always a good idea and a college degree is a useful tool to do that but it is not the only way.
Take a closer look at Clayton’s case. His job afforded him a lot of free time during the day which meant that he could study to become a teacher. If he had gone to college when he left school and chose a different course he may be stuck in a job now that didn’t give him the time to change career. Sometimes the decisions we make lead us down a road that we can’t see.
If you are making a decision on your future, give it a lot of thought, try and make the correct choice, but don’t worry. Whatever you choose will not determine the entirety of your life and you can be happy no matter what road you take.