As I approached the garage I reserved a parking spot in using SpotHero, I was informed by the attendant that the garage would be closed early at 7pm for construction. I had a final exam at 6:25pm, but it was still early…about 5:15pm.

The first thing that came to mind was “great, now I will have to pay an extremely high price just to park somewhere else…and especially since I am 90% through my cell phone data plan, I probably won’t be able to find another spot via SpotHero or use maps to locate a garage”. Desperate to save a good chunk of change, I ended up using my phone to locate a spot close to my class building (this class is in D.C. by the way).

I don’t consider myself a nervous driver, but two Fridays ago, looking for a parking garage..I was. The irrational fear that I would go in the wrong direction down a one-way street, not be able to locate the parking spot, or get into an accident prompted a series of very poor decisions on my part. I had the strongest feeling that something bad was going to happen because I knew the maneuver I was going to perform to get to the garage I had just passed was unsafe and risky, but I did it anyway. Sure enough I shattered my right side view mirror right before my final exam.

All I kept telling myself was “you knew this would happen”, “this makes sense because you were making a bad choice”, “this is a reasonable consequence for the choice you made”. What I hope from that moment on is that I never make a choice based on fear.

So many times, humans make choices out of fear. In some cases, we fear irrational, hypothetical situations (like in my story), and in other cases we fear rejection or dissapointment in very real-life situations. Have you ever chosen one option out of fear that your parents would not approve had you chosen the other? Have you ever hesitated to wear something you liked for fear of judgement?  I feel as though we have all been there in our lives.

Time and time again, I am reminded of this; that to make a choice out of fear is to make a choice for defeat. 

I think this situation is highly applicable to our academic lives. Sometimes we are afraid to choose classes because we think they will be challenging. Sometimes we pick a major that will make our parents happy rather than ourselves. Schools, USG in particular are full of resources to help you make a decision for you. Counselors, the Office of Student Services, and more! Don’t make a mistake when the resources to guide you in the right direction are around you…whether it is school related or not.