As the end of senior year approaches, many feelings arise.  

Feelings of dread, stress and the weight of decisions that need to be made. 

During four years of high school, each year you tend to spend a little bit of time working on fulfilling requirements for what you want to pursue.  

Each person chooses a different path to follow.  

Some choose a four-year university; some choose technical college; some pursue their sport and have known that they wanted to do that for a while. 

My decision, however, has taken me a lot of time to figure it out.  

Since last year, I was very set on going to a four-year university and earning a degree in business.  

After taking more time to reflect and see how much my life has changed in the last year, I have decided to take a different path than what I had thought.  

My first two years of high school, I had no idea of what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go with my life, I was focused on the now.  

As my junior year approached, I started to look at some four-year universities and was so set on finding one for me. I was hoping to find a place that had the degree I wanted and allowed me to continue my athletic career.  I had never even thought to look into community college because it did not seem like the right decision for me.  

About halfway through my junior year, it got really hard for me. I struggled to focus or even make it to class each day. I would have headaches almost daily making it extremely hard to do anything. I later found out that I had migraines and the best way to treat them was medication.  

Finding the right medication for you is not as easy as it may seem. Different ones could have side effects worse than a migraine. Each one came with side effects that made me feel even worse. 

I finished off my junior year as best I could. 

After my junior year I really started to worry, I did not know what I wanted to do or even have an idea. I thought I wanted to go into physical therapy or maybe business, but the more I thought about it, the thought did not feel right.  

Then senior year began and I was still at a loss of what to do.  

I went to a soccer invitational camp to see how I fit in there. It just did not feel right, I felt like I didn’t fit in with some of the other girls there.  

I had started to look into colleges more since that would have to be a decision that I would have to make fairly soon. I looked into not only majors I thought were interesting but their soccer programs and what they looked like.  

I started off looking at four-year universities, then moved more into community colleges, thinking that I might fit in more there. I looked at their soccer programs and knew people who could get me in touch with the coaches.  

The more I thought about it and looked into the programs, college was starting to feel like a chore, and I was just trying to be like everyone else, go to college right out of high school.  

With more thought, taking a gap year seemed like the best decision for me, my coach wants me to help assistant coach 13-year-olds through my current soccer club. I would continue to work at my job, and I would have the opportunity to continue playing the sport I love with a team I love.  

This seemed like the best decision for me, it allows me to continue doing what I love without having the stress of school. This allows me to take time and really decide what I truly am passionate about and what I want to do.  

After my gap year I plan to go to a university to earn a degree and possibly continue my athletic career. I love the sport and would like to keep playing as long as I can.