Two years ago, I had a plan for what my life would look like.
After I graduated from high school I would apply for university, I'd cross my fingers, get into the university, stay in the university, graduate with an arts degree as fast as possible, get a job, get married, have a family, stay at home, watch my family grow up... and that would be my story.
My parents knew the plan. My friends knew the plan. I knew the plan. It had been the plan for a long, long time.
Hidden behind the shadow of this plan there was, and had always been - the dream.
It was a fantasy of a girl with a guitar, a life on the road, a journal of faded photographs, newspaper clippings, and souvenirs.
A life of adventure and art, passionate poetry, and more stories than a person can possibly remember.
I never took this dream seriously, because it was always assumed that if I did, I would fail, and then I would find myself with zero future security, and no shortage of pity from all the peers that had become doctors, lawyers, accountants, and engineers.
I never took it seriously because I was afraid, and I felt guilty for entertaining the belief that maybe... just maybe I could be successful at something I had always loved.
But then last year happened. The opportunity to record my originals with professionals in an internationally recognized studio happened.
The opportunity to travel and perform happened. And the chance to audition before an audience at a record label happened. That was never part of the plan.
So, after a year of anxiety, restlessness, and deliberation I've decided to take a year off from UBC to pursue music.
It's been a huge deciding process and my parents are still hoping to convince me to reconsider, but I'm 100 per cent sure that I have to do this.
I have two years of university under my belt, and I've been reassured by multiple academic advisors that school will be waiting for me if I choose to I go back in September 2015.
I don't have any illusions about stumbling across fame overnight and I understand that this is probably the largest gamble I will ever make. But I've realized that I would be haunted by regret for the rest of my life if I chose to hide within my comfort zone.
Already I am aware of the executive freedom and responsibility that comes with stepping outside the education system.
I don't have classes or assignments to attend, and it's going to be a constant struggle to maximize efficiency and productivity when there is no higher authority monitoring progress.
The temptation to relax and slack off will always be there. But nothing remarkable was ever done by following the mould.
And if I don't try now, I don't think I will ever have the chance again.
Anna Toth is a graduate of J.N. Burnett secondary and a local musician.
