After my financial aid got inexplicably withheld for this semester I finally realized school is not for me. At least not Rhode Island College. I’ve spent the past two years listening to what other people in my life think is best and now I’m actually seeing it. I’ve hated every minute of my time there and dealing with all of the incompetency on their part despite how much money I’ve paid already. I’ve given up the things I love for convenience and comfort, two things that anyone who doesn’t want to die bored should avoid entirely. I guess I just wanted to do what was expected of me, but with the current state of things in this country and the world I can’t justify pursuing a degree in art. From an educational standpoint, what I would learn at RIC is somewhere on par with spending a few hundred dollars on some coffee table and art history books. From a practical standpoint, it’s fucking absurd to bury myself into the ground with that debt. And even though I’m halfway through with my degree, getting myself into double the debt I’m in now scares the shit out of me. I’m so tired of feeling obligated to live up to other people’s standards. I guess being an adult and completely supporting myself since I turned seventeen made me lose sight of what I actually want to do with my life. Which is create art. Learn from others. See the world. Live simply. Luckily I am realizing this now before it’s too late. Don’t let other people tell you what you should do with your life, you’ll end up with nothing but regret and unhappiness.