On September 23, 2016 I received the email I’d be waiting for my entire college career. Welcome to the UW-L PT Program’s Class of 2020. I’d worked hard for this moment; I spent summers job-shadowing, weekends in the library, and late nights with my head buried in textbooks. Going to graduate school for physical therapy was always my goal. THIS is what I wanted more than anything else… or so I thought.

However when I saw my acceptance email appear in my inbox, I didn’t feel the excitement that I imagined. Instead, I felt heavy. I’d climbed another rung higher on the ladder to success. One step closer to a dependable job, a family, and a house with a white-picket fence. And that terrified me.

Monotony. That’s what I feared. I’m 22-years-old and have been in school as long as I can remember. I’ve never lived more than 45 minutes from the place I grew up. Yes, I’ve been fortunate to travel and had many rich experiences, but I’ve never been fully immersed in anything other than my studies.

I found myself at a crossroads: Launch into PT school and pursue a stable career or… or what? That’s when I remembered what my parents always told me. I can do anything. Little did they realize those words of encouragement would backfire on them.

Three days after receiving my acceptance to PT school, I sent a response sincerely thanking the committee for selecting me. I was both honored and humbled for being chosen out of a large pool of highly qualified candidates. However, I had to decline my admission. I feared that by going to grad school right away, I would be sacrificing the opportunity to travel and live abroad. These are things I need to do while I’m young and unbound by a white-picket fence.

To my surprise, the PT program administration was very understanding. They offered me the chance to defer my enrollment for one year and begin in May 2018. I accepted the offer in a heartbeat.

The question then became, what will I do with this year of life? The answer was anything. I started talking to friends, family, relatives, and co-workers. Slowly my year began to take shape. I would spend three weeks backpacking 270 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail with my co-worker and close friend. I would return to Uganda with my mom and continue a women’s empowerment project. I would travel to Norway with a couple good friends that were just finishing PT school. Finally, I would finish the year by spending eight months in Nepal, learning the culture and working on an organic farm. Why Nepal…? Why not!

It’s going to be a year unlike any other. There will undoubtedly be moments when I fall. I will be surrounded by people who I can’t understand. I’ll get lost, miss my train, and lose my luggage. I’ll miss all those I love and left back in the U.S. But after I fall, I will get back up, and keep trekking. That’s how you climb mountains.

And I have many mountains to climb.