In 2014 Dare to Be Young, Wild, and Free

When I was younger I had many career plans. I wanted to be everything from a cashier at Prince's (don't ask) to a famous movie star. After a certain age, however, I, as a young adult, was expected to make a decisions about my future that would directly impact the rest of my life. I was pretty sure I knew what I wouldn't to do, but after a couple of years, I have gone through the same process of being a lot of things at once. 

I want to be a movie star, I want to run away with the circus, I want to be a teacher, a journalist, a Broadway costumer, the creator of a webseries, a cheer coach, a Peace Corps worker, and almost everything else. I try so hard to make up my mind on what to do with my life, but in reality, I don't have to. I am 20 years old. I have my entire life ahead of me, and while a lot of people think that they have to pursue one thing in their life, I have discovered that's not true. If you want to do it all, you can do it all. 

So my goal and my challenge to all of you in 2014 is to take advantage of life. I know that sounds cliché, but I think that sometimes we need to be reminded that it is okay to live by clichés. People try to tell us that acting our age is a bad thing, but being young is anything but wrong. Being young, being crazy because we're young and we can, and living life is normal. I know that sometimes life gets stressful, everything is crazy and tests are coming up, bills are due, everything is piling up, and there isn't any time to be alone or let loose. But it is important to make the time to just go nuts, to take a day off, because sometimes we all need it. Occasionally skipping out on responsibilities is okay. Professors understand if you need a day, too much stress can make one sick. 

Everyone has something they want to do. But there is always an excuse why you aren't doing it, right? Well, stop it. Stop making excuses as to why you can't accomplish things you want to do. Want to go on a trip, do it. I know that dreams take work, goals take work, everything takes work. But do the work to make your dreams happen. Go on that trip, ask the girl/guy out, change your major, audition for that show, take the class, just do the damn thing already. Twenty years from now you don't want to look back at your life and see all the things you wished you had done, you want to look back on a scrapbook of a life, full of all the opportunities you took, the wishes you made come true, and the smiles you had. 

2014 is our year, reader. 2014 is the year in which we get stuff done. We do the things we've always wanted, we become the people we have always wanted to be. Yeah, new year new you type thing. No, change doesn't happen overnight, sometimes change takes longer than a year, sometimes change takes ten years, but it is never too early to start living life for you. 

So in 2014 be a twenty-something, thirty-something, fifty-something, however-old-you-are-something, and do it without regrets. Be young, be wild, be daring, live life, laugh, love, cry, travel, eat a lot of food that's bad for you, work out, do it all, see it all, taste it all, smell it all. 

Honestly, reader, I just want to see you brave. 



Alexis Olmstead may be small, but she's got giant plans. Alexis is a part time waitress, full time diva, and Dorothy in the OVOC production of Wizard of Oz. She is currently working on getting into free lance writing and/or journalism. Someday she will be a teacher. But today she is dog sitting and they are controlling her life. Have you ever had a puppy fall asleep on you? It is like a law that you can't move until they wake up. Disturbing a sleeping puppy is technically a crime against humanity. Ask your local law officers for more information. Happy New Year, readers.