Identity Crisis?

Just last night, some friends and I were watching the new TLC hit, The Virgin Diaries. Its like somebody found my diary and made a TV show out of it! Just kidding... awkward... moving on. There were three segments in this first episode: one about a couple that had never kissed until their wedding day (which looked like a mother bird regurgitating dinner to her babies, by the way) one about three 29-year-old virgin roommates, and one 30 year old male. The last guy was not a virgin by choice, and kind of looked like Wooly Willy, if any of you guys remember that cheap little game with the bald guy that you put a magnetic beard or hair on. He was bald with glasses and a nice beard. To us, he resembled a typical Irish-American guy with the bald head and the reddish beard, the green short sleeve button down with the white tee underneath, and black square-rimmed glasses. Our friend Mark, slightly tipsy, begins talking about his friend on the rugby team and how he is, and I quote, "really taking on the whole Irish thing." We, also slightly tipsy, burst into laughter at his seriousness. The guy he is talking about comes from no Irish roots whatsoever, yet he has picked up an irish accent and the stereotypical garb. Rebecca laughed "You cant just decide to be Irish!" clearly amused by the idea of just deciding to be something that you aren't.

Another example of this is my Baylor golf teacher. Born and raised in Victoria, Texas, you would have thought he came straight off the boat from Germany. Before I go on, I must tell you that while incredibly nerdy, this man is probably one of the most witty, down to earth, and passionate guy I've met.  He was in a play in high school where he played a 1920s German character. He figured out that by some distant descent, he actually is of German blood. He loved the character so much that he became fluent in German and decided to stick with the German accent. He also decided to stick to the era of the character. I was actually shocked to find that he in fact, did not drive a Model T. He drives a Toyota. But, he dresses identical to 1920s golf hero, Ben Hogan, with the circle rimmed glassed, the parted and greased hair, and the long sleeve button downs and slacks. He says he hasn't worn short sleeves or shorts since the '90s. Thats how dedicated to his role he is.

This got me thinking. These two people saw something they wanted to be, no matter how unreachable it seemed, and they went for it. Now, I'm not saying "be something you're not" or to be fake, but go for your goals! I loved my major, Film, but I didn't want to be one of those nerdy, anti-social geeks that sits behind a computer screen all day. I want to be social, make connections and meet people! I had an epiphany and God kinda just told me to go speak with this specific professor, so I did. 30 minutes later, I have changed my major, added a second minor in Film, and thus possibly changed my career path. You are looking at now Journalism/PR major, Monica Lake. While this is not as extreme as becoming Irish or a 1920s German, this is a baby step to becoming who I want to be. I thought I was too old to change my major as a Junior or that I would be behind, but I can do whatever I set my mind to, and so can you. Go ahead and set those high goals! Stop wandering through life hoping the next step will be decent, go ahead and say what you want, no matter how unachievable it seems. Start doing this with the small things in life and it will be easier to do it on the big things.
Look, its not that hard:
My name is Monica Lake, I want to graduate Baylor in PR with an impressive portfolio, become a sought after writer and photographer, and one day run a blog that everyone reads. And somewhere along the way, start up an animal shelter and get married. We all know how much I love animals and relationships, respectively.

-MoniLake