I was at a second-hand clothing store trying to get some extra gas money from my middle school dreads I’d been hoarding when something unexpected happened.

I’m a friendly person, but sometimes I get caught up in what I’m trying to accomplish and forget other people are involved in my requests.

The sales girl and I made polite small talk. Her boyfriend’s mother owns the clothing store, but she has been thinking for a few months about going back to school.

When I asked her what she was considering for a degree, her face lit up like a Christmas tree as she began to talk about rocks. This stranger was using her hands as she talked about how fascinated she was with the planet.

She told me how she’s going to start a garden. She told me how she leaves work after folding socks to go learn everything she can about rocks. An hour-and-a-half later in our conversation, I’m almost in tears because I’ve just encountered someone who is on the verge of figuring out what will make her happy.

I’ve heard the statistic that the average college student changes majors seven times. I’m sometimes envious of the few who figure it out early.

I’ll never forget my youth leader telling me he became obsessed with eyes when he was 12 years old and decided then he was going to be an eye doctor. Today, he runs a successful practice and loves it.

I think if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.

But, I think everyone has to work a job they don’t like to figure it out. If we don’t work jobs we hate or dislike, we’ll never know what will make us happy.

I knew a pastor once who worked at McDonald’s in high school and hated it. He is extremely grateful for that job, though, because it pushed him to explore what he wanted in this life.

We only get one shot at this life. I’m a firm believer that anything is possible if you put in the work. I also refuse to buy the excuse of the job market being too poor for people to get the jobs they want.

It might take a little longer to get a job these days, but I’ve met too many happy people who are living their dreams every day to consider the notion that happiness isn’t possible.

There are many satisfied people in retail, as well. I know, because those are the people at the mall who have made a lot of money off me.

I say if you have a passion, follow it to the ends of the earth. I refuse to listen to people making careers in something because they thought they had to. I have so much respect for returning students at WSU as well because they are not just giving in to the idea they can’t better themselves.

This girl I met at the store has a different dream than what she is doing — she has a unique idea she wakes up every day thinking about.

She inspired me when I met her because she’s not going to sit by and work at the clothing store the rest of her life. She’s going to do something about it.

 In the next few weeks, I’m going to show her around the WSU campus, introduce her to the geology department, and help her trade in the socks for rocks.