My heart was calling to me a tropical land, long before it happened. Tropical music and images were constantly in my head, and I kept looking up resorts and vacation destinations!
I applied to a study abroad in Fiji, but it actually fell through because not enough students applied.
This was in October 2017. I found a document on my computer that I wrote that said "I am living in Hawaii". For some it might seem like a normal dream destination, but not for me. I had only really dreamed of living in New York (which I had done for a semester as well) so this Hawaii thing was random to me!
Well one day in January or February of 2018, I was doing some overnight nannying for a family who was gone for a week. One of the nights there was a going away party that the kids I was watching were invited to, that I also knew the family. So at the party I ran into a guy I knew from my neighborhood, and we started catching up.
We had a conversation about studying abroad, and how expensive it was. I told him how much my program was going to be in Fiji and he commented how there are some cheaper study abroad programs, but also how you can travel for cheaper without studying abroad. Just depends what experience you want. Then he mentioned I should apply for the internship for his company, because they have stores all over the world like Key West, Mexico, South Carolina, San Francisco, the DR, and well, Hawaii.
My brother did the internship in San Francisco and loved it! I had thought about it but never gave it much thought because I didn't want to pursue marketing or sales or anything, so I thought it would be a waste of my time. After all I have always known I wanted to pursue music and performing! Clearly working retail would not help me.
But I kept thinking about it, and I talked to my friend about it. What if we moved to Hawaii together? We started getting excited about it and I got her to apply with me! The more I thought about it the more I wanted to do it, because
-it was only 3 months
-it would be nearly impossible to ever live in Hawaii for this cheap again (they provided housing and a car!)
So I applied, I made my video pretending to sell one of their products. THE BIG DECIDING MOMENT
I remember very clearly the day the application was due. I had filled out the application and made a video but I was deciding if I should really do it. I would get excited about it for one minute and then the next minute be scared I would hate it. What if I was miserable working in the store? What if I didn't like who I worked with? What if I regretted it?
These thoughts kept coming in my head.
And then I remember a very clear thought coming into my head. I was living at home, going to school at the University of Utah, doing some things I loved, and some I wasn't so excited about (like real life haha). But then I remember having the thought come to me: If you do not do this, then your life/reality is going to be this. Exactly what it is now.
Essentially it was saying 'you aren't going to missing out here'.
And THAT scared me more than the possibility of being miserable working in the store. How bad could it be? Worst comes to worst I can still go to the beach so life can't be that bad!
In that moment I pressed submit. I never in a million years would have believed you if you told me I would do a Sales internship. But when the island calls, you listen!
What is calling you?
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