As a twenty-year-old, after a year in college, I had become very disillusioned with my prospects. Not only was I failing my classes, but I felt like a little cog in a big machine, a machine designed to extract money from people like me. However, my parents had high expectations, and I didn’t want to disappoint them. After much consideration, I figured I would take a semester off to figure things out. As expected, my parents were not only disappointed but angry as well.

“So, what the hell are you going to do?” my father asked.

“I don’t know yet,” I replied.

As I retreated to my room, my father yelled, “Maybe you should join the marines, that way you can get your shit straight!”

I wanted to cry something back, but I really didn’t have anything to say. It also didn’t help that my dad was an old, hard-ass marine. The next few weeks were hell. My parents were unrelenting and reminded me about my shortcomings daily. I had gotten a job at a local insurance agency, but I felt like my parents didn’t want me in their house anymore. I had always been an outdoors person, and the situation was becoming unbearable. I tried to stay out of the house as much as possible. Every day, there was an argument about how school was the only option and how I had to either go back or start thinking about moving out.