Nobody likes the sound of community college.

I was sitting on the porch yesterday, laptop open, working in the shade.

Two girls came blasting by on their bikes. They looked like they were in high school.  They had no idea I was even there.

As they flew past, I caught one sentence. "Nobody likes the sound of community college."

And then they were gone.

I never saw their faces…I never heard the rest of the conversation…But that one sentence was such an odd one to catch. 

Not because I wanted to convince her to go to community college or not, but because I wanted to tell her how much of life she'd eventually spend unlearning that way of thinking.

Nobody tells you this at sixteen: The way something sounds and where it leads are rarely the same thing.

Somewhere along the way, we learn to evaluate our lives by how they'll be perceived before we ever stop to ask whether they're actually right for us.

The prestigious degree.
The impressive title.
The relationship that looks perfect from the outside.
The safe decision.
The expected path.

We don't just ask, "What do I want?"

We ask, "What will people think?"

I know, because I did it.

I'm still paying off student loans for a degree I don't use anymore…I thought it was where I was meant to serve. The masters was needed for the work. It checked the boxes. It just wasn't the life I was actually meant to build.

And the more people I work with, the more convinced I become that this doesn't stop after high school.

We do it with careers.

Businesses.

Leadership.

Dreams.

We choose what sounds right long before we ask what actually is right.

I consider the filter the invisible set of rules we've learned to run ourselves through before the world ever experiences us.

The filter tells us to pick what sounds successful instead of what feels meaningful.

To stay where we're admired instead of where we're growing.

To chase approval instead of alignment.

The filter doesn't just edit how we show up.

It edits our futures.

Because sometimes the decision that makes the least sense to everyone else becomes the one that changes everything.

So today, finish this sentence for yourself:

If I stopped filtering ____________, I would ____________.

Hit reply and tell me yours.  I read every single one.

Big hugs & so much love,

Cassy

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