The Spark That Changed My Life--Part 6 {A New Road}

A New Road

I was about halfway through the semester and not super thrilled about most of my classes. When registering for those classes before I left for Philmont, I had prioritized online and late-start classes. I figured if I did that, I wouldn’t have to worry as much about getting ready for school since I would be getting home two days before school started. Of course, those parameters narrowed down my options quite a bit and I just went with whatever would fit in my liberal arts degree and seemed somewhat interesting. By the time I had decided to come home a few weeks earlier, it wasn't worth trying to figure out what I'd rather do and rearrange my entire schedule. But at that point halfway through the semester, I started wondering why I did that. Even tho these classes technically counted toward my current declared degree, they still felt like a waste of time for the most part.

I couldn't stop thinking about what I had learned and experienced over the summer. Although reminiscing my experiences at Philmont was pretty normal, this time it was different. The WFR training, the SAR training, the fire and forest ecology, the incident command and emergency response systems. I began thinking about what I could do with all that. My first thought was forest ecology. But what would I do with that? Be a park ranger? It was an idea but wasn’t right.

One day, I was talking to Jon, who I had met at the WFR course, and he mentioned that he had heard about ski resorts who hired WFRs to work there year-round. Although I don't have much experience skiing, this idea made me excited. And even if it wasn't ski patrol, I could be a medic for a SAR team. Doing something in the medical field had never once in my life interested me. But suddenly, the idea of wilderness rescue and medicine sounded so interesting. Before I knew it, I had a whole two-year plan to go through the EMS program at school and then move somewhere where I could get more wilderness training.

This past semester, I completed the Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) course, and I’m registered for the EMT program next semester. Although my life plan is continually evolving, this last makeover has probably been the biggest to date.

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Believe it or not, this 6 part series is the shortened version of what I've written and continue to write. If you’re still interested in reading more, let me know and I’ll give you access to the longer version.