Have you seen the show, The Good Place? If not then let me brief you on one of the characters I associate with deeply. His name is Chidi Anagonye, and throughout his life, he has struggled to make decisions quickly. I mirror that behavior. For example, one time at my parents’ Alma Mater’s merch store, it took me about an hour to choose between a red hat and a blue hat, while the rest of my family was checked out and ready to leave. Now, as a senior, I am forced to make some of the most important decisions of my life– which college I want to attend and what I want to do with my life.

This decision isn’t a red hat or blue hat scenario that takes an hour, this choice will change the course of the career I could potentially have until retirement. Heavy stuff, I know.

Fortunately, I don’t think I’m going into college life at a complete loss for what I want to do. A career possibility that has always stood out to me is journalism. I have wanted to be a journalist for most of my life. When I was little, I would write news stories based on old nursery rhymes for fun. However, my early passion for writing has stunted my exploration in any other field that may spark my interest. For example, just this past year I got a job as a dance teacher for four-year-old’s and now I really love teaching. The more I look, the more colored hats I see.

As far as schools go, I do have one decision made. I am going to start my college career at Metropolitan Community College Maple Woods due to its affordability. However, I’ve realized I may have subconsciously made this decision just to give myself more time to decide on where I want my future to go.

Much like the red hat and the blue hat, I have narrowed the four-year college I am going to transfer to down to two options, Northwest Missouri State University and the University of Missouri. Before deciding on a school, I must first decide on my future career goals. For journalism, Mizzou is the obvious choice. However, I am much more familiar with Northwest’s smaller campus and town, as it is the school my sister attends currently. And, if I’m not committed to journalism, Northwest may be a better idea to try out different options.

Fortunately, I don’t have to make my decision yet, and hopefully, community college will help me make a definite decision I’m happy with. Years after the Rolla hat incident I watched an episode of The Good Place and had an identity crisis as I saw Chidi take 82 minutes to choose between two hats, a white one and a brown one, just as I had. As I watched his life unfold through three seasons, I witnessed him save humanity despite his poor decision-making skills. So, maybe relentlessly thinking through my decisions isn’t the worst thing after all.