Member-only story
I’m Done With Omens
I control my own destiny
Almost a decade ago, I was sitting inside my parents’ kitchen when it started to snow. Snow is not unusual for New England. But the timing was: it was late October, and the leaves had not yet fallen from the trees.
I thought to myself, “I need to make dinner. The power’s going to go out.”
I was able to make a pasta dish before the house went dark. The heavy snow weighed down branches until they snapped, knocking out power lines all over the state. We ended up losing power for a week. The house grew chilly, and my flashlight died after two nights.
My younger brothers cried every day for two reasons: 1) The Internet was out, and 2) Halloween had been canceled. Kids couldn’t go trick-or-treating with downed powerlines everywhere, I guess. And having candy just wasn’t the same.
My nerves were shot. And after that, two things in my life changed.
First, I always kept plenty of LED-powered flashlights around.
Second, I dropped out of college.
Naturally, when I tried to drive to class with entire roads blocked off by fallen branches, I got anxious. I was overwhelmed. I was not at the point where I could explain my anxiety to the professors, or to the dean. I just told them I was quitting, and I did.
