Over the past couple of years, I have befriended an interesting fellow named Brian Fritz. We met at a local contra dance and get together every so often to reflect on life and the universe. Brian is 31 and has always struck me as a happy guy who know what he wants and then goes out and gets it. He plays guitar, piano, and drums, is a world traveler, and is currently most passionate about Tai Chi and rock climbing.

Currently supporting himself as a lifeguard and a swimming instructor, Brian has also been recently working as a personal fitness trainer, wellness coach, and nutritionist. He fuels an active pursuit in his current hobbies. “This will probably continue into the foreseeable future,” he says. “But I plan to reassess my passions in five or six years.”

I did not expect to hear that Brian holds a BSBA in Economics from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. “With a concentration in Happiness and Environmental Research,” he added. “I got bored with economics, so I switched energy to the human body first, and then business second.”

In the unschooling community, it becomes almost foreign to think that some children have grown up without ever being aware that enrolling in college is a choice. I asked him if he would have gone to college if he had to do it all over again. “Going to college was the only option I was aware of,” he answered.

If you ask any college graduate this question, you’ll probably get a variety of answers, depending mostly on what field they are working in presently. Whatever their answer, they nearly invariably advocate for or justify their decision by adding, “I got to have the college experience.”

You can imagine I was quite surprised when Brian shook his head. “No… if I had known what I know now, I would not have gone to college.”

But what in the world is “The College Experience”??

Blake Boles, an international trip leader and founder of Zero Tuition College lets you in on his version of this mysterious enterprise in this article: 10 Great Things I Gained in College – and Where Else I May Have Found Them.

Despite seemingly less relevant years spent in school and college, people like Brian and Blake have taken control of their lives and are doing what they love. If you are reading this, you most likely know that you do not necessarily need college to reach your dreams. But even then, it is easy to get complacent in everyday life. So I want to ask: what do you really want to do, now? How quickly can you start doing that, in any capacity? What can you do today to take a step towards your dream?