UNITED STATES—Something extremely interesting has happened to me in the last week. I have literally had 3 to 4 people tell me that a career change is on the horizon for me. At first I seriously wanted to laugh it off, but then I opened a fortune cookie that said, “You will soon experience a career change.” At first I thought it was a coincidence, but then that changed when I opened a second fortune cookie that said the exact same thing.

Now wait a minute, there is no WAY this is a coincidence America, right? It can’t be. Does the universe know something that I am not fully aware of? Perhaps, or maybe it’s the fact that I am being blind to the truth that is sitting right in front of my eyes, but I’m too stupid to realize it. I mean I’m graduating in a mere week. There is a ton of pressure from multiple parties encouraging me to focus on a new career path or trajectory.

Yeah, I’m just like most Americans, who find themselves with a job that you don’t fully hate, but you don’t fully love it either. You’re doing what you have to do in order to get by. I’ve always told myself in life that I’m a filmmaker. I know this beyond anything else in the world. I WAS PUT ON THIS PLANET TO MAKE MOVIES! There is nothing else in life that excites me the way cinema does. Once an idea ignites in my head it is impossible for me to get rid of it until I jot it down. I fantasize about the thought of crafting a movie; the beginning, the middle and the end.

What’s even worse I play out potential scenes in my head of what I want to have happen. This is no coincidence America; you know when something is a calling and when that calling is starring you right in the face, you can’t ignore it. We absolutely know when we should be doing something and when we should not. It’s like you have that conscience eating at you. “You know what you have to do!” You hear it, it haunts you, but still you do absolutely nothing.

Why not? Who knows? Is it fear? Nerves, uncertainty or something else? For me I think it is directly connected to uncertainty. You are not afraid of succeeding or failing at something, you are skeptical about where this new trajectory might take you. Will it change you as a person? Will you become someone that you don’t recognize? The thing is you never know if you’re not willing to take the leap to find out what is behind that door that you refused to open. Sometimes you have to open a door to discover what is behind the door instead of just wondering or guessing. It’s like a present you receive for Christmas; you’ll never know what is in the box if you’re not willing to open it.

Sometimes a career is the same way. If you don’t try something that you feel is being pushed in your direction or that becomes a part of your orbit, you’re letting a potential golden opportunity slip from your hands.

Written By Kelsey Thomas