First Person: The Unexpected Beauty of Indecision

I’ve grown very familiar with the phrases “don’t worry, no one knows what they want to do” and “you’ve got plenty of time.” As cliché as they sound though, they're true. Since I was little, I’ve always had a broad range of interests, spanning from dinosaurs to dancing to gardening. This has continued throughout my life with sports, clothing, and subjects in school, and it's even part of the reason why I chose to go to St. Lawrence.

Since St. Lawrence is a liberal arts school, students are required to take several classes covering a broad range of subjects. Not knowing what I wanted to study when I came into my first year helped me navigate what I liked and what I didn’t. I took Intro to Environmental Studies (which I loved), General Biology, and flip-flopped between wanting to major in a few other subjects. I finally landed on psychology my sophomore year and decided to minor in biology and minor in outdoor studies.

I also planned to go abroad to the Czech Republic. When that was canceled due to the pandemic, I was bummed and still wanted to do something new. In the past, I had considered declaring a second major if an abroad program didn't work out, but I wasn’t sure if that was for me. I decided to take the spring off and do the fall and summer semesters at SLU and work as a ski instructor. As I mentioned before, I had taken Intro to Environmental Studies and loved it. The topic was interesting and I loved the professor. I’ve always been passionate about environmental issues as well as outdoor recreation, but that passion grew over those couple of months. I still had a nagging feeling telling me to pursue a second major that I had ignored for a while.

Since I had the time, I decided to see how it would fit into my schedule, still needing three classes to finish my psych major. I began secretly planning (to even see if it was feasible), and it was soon time to meet with my professor to map out my courses for the summer and fall semesters. At the end of our meeting, I brought up the topic of my potential second major in environmental studies, still not knowing if it was a good idea or not. Not only did she help me figure out how to do it, but she was also thrilled that I was considering it. As I logged off of our Zoom call, she said how excited she was for me, and that this combination was perfect for me. “This is you, this is Meg,” she said. It felt good to have her support and enthusiasm.

After, I reached out to my intro to environmental studies professor, who put me in contact with my environmental studies advisor. We talked about the ways we could make these courses fit, and I had just the right amount of time to finish both majors on time.

Psychology and environmental studies are seemingly very different. But when you look into both subjects, you see how connected they are (as everything is.) This summer, I have the opportunity to apply to do a research project of my own, I tried to combine my passion for psych and environmental studies into my research topic. I rested on studying the impact that time spent outside in nature has on mental health, memory, and attention.

As cliché as it sounds, you don’t have to have it all figured out, no one does. Just this morning, my environmental geology professor said he’s still figuring it out. There is beauty in exploring things through several different lenses, in changing your mind, and in trying new things. The support I’ve received from faculty throughout my time at SLU has enabled me to take risks, explore many topics and figure out what is right for me. It allowed me to take what was originally a disappointing situation (my abroad program) and turn it into a positive—combining two things I am passionate about.