One day or another, we decide what we want, and we begin to make it happen. We dream and hope, and if all goes as planned, we will have what once we only dreamed of. What do we do, then, when we have it? In the movies, that’s when the credits roll. In real life, our lives are way too fluid and tumultuous for the achievement of one dream to be the end of dreaming.
 
Our culture puts a lot of emphasis on knowing what you want and going after it. In the college and graduate school setting, this seems amplified. Everyone is asking, and everyone is giving confident answers—they know their ideal 10-year plan and they’ve wanted it since they were seven years old.
 
I remember when I was a little girl, people would ask what I wanted to be, and I’d answer a “veterinarian” or a “drummer in a rock band’ or an “artist,” but even at the time, I felt like I was making up an answer to satisfy the questioner. I didn’t have much foresight beyond what was for lunch or when the next fun sleepover was. As I grew up, I settled more firmly on an idea of what I wanted.
 
Picture it with me:

• I wanted to be a professional student, because I loved learning and writing essays, and doing projects was a thrill.
• I wanted to live in a historic district, close enough to commute to work on bicycle. I loved the wide variety of home styles and the sprawling old trees that historic districts offer.
• I wanted to have a cat. No profound reason except that I like cats.

 
It may sound simple and underwhelming to you, but to me, it sounds blissful. I never thought that at 29, still a doctoral candidate, I would already be living my dream.

• This is my 12^th year being a college student, and I have been on a paid fellowship for half of that time. Professional student? CHECK.
• For the past 6 years, I have lived in the most wonderful, small, perfect home in the College Station “South Gate”—the unofficial historic district next to A&M. It was built in 1946 and is 812 square feet.  I biked to campus for three of the years I’ve lived here, until I got tired of being rained on, sweating profusely, and getting hit by cars (okay, the last one only happened once). Historic home close to campus? CHECK
• I have technically (and secretly) owned two cats, Fred and Ted. I have joyfully fed countless other strays on my back porch, and even a few possums. Cats? CHECK.

I want you to know that I do have other goals and aspirations for my life—I mean I haven’t been in college for 12 years for nothing—but I was surprised when I realized that my main dreams have been met early.
 
I find myself at a beautiful fork in the road, one ripe with possibility. I will soon make significant career decisions that will impact what I do and where I live. Do I keep making decisions that will keep me close to my original dreams, carefully maintaining the lifestyle I always wanted and know that I love? Or is it time to dream again?
 
We can change our minds. Hopefully in graduate school, we’ve learned that there are way more opportunities available for us than we ever thought, and there are careers that we’ve never heard of. I came into graduate school fully committed to staying in academia, hoping to mold the minds of college students in the classroom. This was even though every time I went to a seminar about careers in academia, or postdoc positions, or to a dissertation defense, it made me sick to my stomach with anxiety. It took me a lot longer than it should have to admit that I would likely end up in a different career than I had hoped for. But even in the past 12 months, I have learned about careers I did not know existed that make my heart beat faster with enthusiasm. What an exciting change! Better yet, my Ph.D. has actually prepared me for them!
 
It’s time for me to dream again. To dream about new careers, where they can take me, and where I want to be; though I will likely always want a cat to be a part of the dream.
 
This is the cheesiest line I have ever written, but come and dream with me.

– Kalen Johnson 

Kalen is a doctoral candidate in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.