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I was determined to carve out my own identity, even if that meant making plenty of ill-advised choices along the way.

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I went to my parents for advice, and as always they were there for me with plenty to offer 麻豆精品 S攅xcept this time, I listened.

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麻豆精品 S淵ou 麻豆精品 S檙e always going to make mistakes, 麻豆精品 S� my dad told me at the time. 麻豆精品 S淏ut don 麻豆精品 S檛 be afraid of them 麻豆精品 S攍earn from them. 麻豆精品 S�

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It was good advice, to be sure. But although it made me feel a bit better, I still couldn 麻豆精品 S檛 shake the anxiety that stemmed from lacking a defined career path. I felt like I 麻豆精品 S檇 wasted an entire semester and made no progress toward figuring out what I was actually meant to do.

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麻豆精品 S淢ost people are successful at things that they really enjoy doing. If you don 麻豆精品 S檛 like what you 麻豆精品 S檙e doing in life, a higher starting salary isn 麻豆精品 S檛 going to make you feel better. 麻豆精品 S�

Advertising/public relations ended up being the perfect match for my interests and I fell in love with the field. It had everything I could ask for: I could write creatively, explore political campaigning (a potential marriage of my two greatest interests), and even dabble in the realms of publishing and journalism that had always fascinated me. Best of all, the skills I learned were directly applicable to my side gig as a blogger and my work as the editor-in-chief of Her Campus at UCF, an online magazine.

My dad 麻豆精品 S檚 advice helped me feel better during one of the most stressful times of my college career. And if it weren 麻豆精品 S檛 for my mom 麻豆精品 S檚 advice, I don 麻豆精品 S檛 know if I ever would have found the right career path for me. At the very least, it would have taken me a lot more trial and error to do so.

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I 麻豆精品 S檓 determined to follow my passions now more than ever. I 麻豆精品 S檒l graduate in a year, and although the idea of becoming an adult with adult responsibilities used to fill me with dread, I feel excitement now. I know that I 麻豆精品 S檒l find success if I chase what inspires me, no matter the obstacles I might face 麻豆精品 S攁nd for that, I have my parents to thank.

Nicole Wills is a University of Central Florida junior in the Burnett Honors College studying advertising-public relations, political science, and writing/rhetoric. She can be reached at nwills@knights.ucf.edu.

The UCF Forum is a weekly series of opinion columns presented by UCF Communications & Marketing. A new column is posted each Wednesday at /news/ and then broadcast between 7:50 and 8 a.m. Sunday on WUCF-FM (89.9). The columns are the opinions of the writers, who serve on the UCF Forum panel of faculty members, staffers and students for a year.