ASHLYEE HICKMAN
Living Editor
Today I decided my life was a television series—sans McDreamy, a high-powered job with the Donald, and a car. OK, maybe my life is not exactly the makings of the next ABC drama, but explore this with me for a second.
I’d wake up on a stoic Seattle morning, stop by Starbucks and drive over to my job at Seattle Grace, the hospital where everyone is pretty. Next, I’d scrub in for my first surgery.
Then I’d faint before Burke would have a chance to say “Scalpel.”
I’m not very good with blood.
Luckily my excellent entrepreneurial skills would be noticed by the producers of “The Apprentice” and I’d fly down to LA. Nice. It would be the perfect life, I’d live in the high-priced mansion, blast the *Nsync music and dance in the hallways. Then I’d get fired because while entranced in the melodies of *Nsync I’d forget that tiny stipulation that I actually had to go to work.
If only I had a car. I’d even take a Ford, like Jack Bauer. Then, if my life was a TV show, maybe this time when I take the DMV driving test I would actually try not to drive in the opposite lane and fail the test before I even leave the parking lot.
Then it hit me. No, it wasn’t a roadside obstruction—a revelation.
So many of us spend our lives chasing someone else’s story while abandoning our own. I see it everywhere: friends waging whether or not they should get plastic surgery to look more like the celebrity icon of the week. People participating in this rat race where nothing is ever good enough as long as someone else has something better. We are turning into this odd society that being ourselves just isn’t good enough.
Why do I want to follow a path that that has already been forged? Sure, it would be nice to be the “next” Oprah or “next” Katie Couric, but I think it would be absolutely phenomenal if I was known as the one and only Ashlyee Hickman.
My favorite teacher, Mr. Tuttle, once told me that “The world is full of infinite possibilities.” This serves as an ongoing mantra for me as I prepare for my future and my career.
So this afternoon I decided that my life is a masterpiece in the making. I reevaluated my situation and I like the fact that I live in Malibu rather than Seattle. I like the fact that I am not tied up in a corporate shenanigan of a show. I, well, can tolerate the fact that I probably shouldn’t be driving at this point in time. I enjoy these things because these are the experiences that shape me, my very identity. This is my story.
So here is my challenge: take the pen. Write your own story. I strongly believe that what we can imagine for ourselves is far greater than what we choose to settle for. Do every thing those cheesy inspirational posters say: seize the day, plan ahead, put one step ahead of the other, be prepared, and all of that. Most importantly, seize the opportunities that will bring you closer to that happy ending that we all hope for.
I know that my challenge may be perceived as easier said than done; it sounds like a rather daunting feat. But all it really requires is a notion that Mister Rogers and a certain large, purple dinosaur instilled in us while we were young—imagination.
01-18-2007