I originally thought my calling was to work in politics until I woke up in the middle of the night and decided that's not what I wanted to do with my life. So I decided to move to London. Within the next two weeks I had a plane ticket. In hindsight it was so naive, but I didn't have a place to stay or a job. I didn't have anything except a work permit and my passport. I got there and basically wandered the streets for a few days looking for a place to live and a job. My luggage didn't come over with me and I had to wear the same clothes for a week. It was pouring rain and at that point, it was the most shocking thing in my life. I think at that point, I'll never forget it because it changed my life, my world all of a sudden became huge. I realized how sheltered I had been in South Dakota.

That whole experience just started it all. I finally got a job and found a place to live. I ended up spending six months over there and it was wonderful. I came back and went straight to New York and I ended up house sitting for a family I had never met before. I think I've gotten extremely lucky, but I also think it has to do with when you put your mind to something things just happen to work out. I really believe that they do. I don't know if that's a naive way of looking at things, but I just keep my mind open.

Right now I'm a Researcher for NBC Nightly News and I'm lucky enough to work closely with Tom Brokaw. I'm one of the youngest ones there and I'm proud of that fact. I started as an intern and worked my way up to researcher. We have a really small staff of about 25 people. So it's pretty exciting. I've been there about a year and a half.

I don't think that it [television news] is my calling. I'm not sure what my calling is and I've been doing a lot of thinking about what my calling is. I just don't know. You're confused at what you want to do because there are so many opportunities that you're overwhelmed with all the possibilities. It is confusing and you just can't pick one. And yet it's reassuring to know that you can do whatever you want and you're young enough to do it.

I think everybody has a calling, but I don't know if it goes along the lines of a career. I don't know what that is or when that comes in your life. I think life's an adventure and that's the meaning of life, to find happiness and do as many things as you can.

I define success as happiness or if I'm living up to all my dreams. I think your dreams should be more of a reality in your life. What makes me happy is constant change. I like to be challenged and to push myself to the limit. Growing up you're so confused at who you are and you're struggling to find your place and how you fit into the whole big scheme of things. That's how I've defined my 20's. It's the time when I pushed myself to the limit. I think as a female it's a little different. It's not as rare as it used to be, but it's rare for women to take off and be totally independent and fend for themselves. I'm really proud that I've done that. It's been very scary, but I know that no matter what happens I can take care of myself. That's a great feeling.

I'm trying to explore as many different things as possible from one experience to the next. I really enjoy art and actually I started out as an art major. I like the serene. I like isolation a lot. Sometimes I like to not see people for days, just drive, paint, listen to certain music. At other times I like to bungy jump and I want to get my pilot's license, and I like being around a lot of people. I really feed off other people and learn so much from others. In finding out what my thing in life is going to be, I think I just have to explore every angle and extreme.

Finding a path is very confusing. It's almost kind of blinding in a way, because you don't know which way you're going and nothing is really that clear. You almost want someone to come down and tell you what you're supposed to be doing in life so you won't have to worry about it anymore. Everybody's like, "Why do you want to know your future?" Well, it would be such a great peace of mind to know exactly what you're supposed to be doing. I get really impatient and I just really want to know and sometimes I feel like I'm in such a hurry to find out what it is. But, it's just a state of mind and you have to slow down and enjoy every single day.

Once in awhile I define my own personal success by what I think other people do. I think other people do value material things. I don't know if that's correct because people may look at me and think I value material things and define success in that way. There's just no way that I would ever feel successful if I measured myself that way. In order for me to be happy in what I'm doing, and like myself, and be proud of myself, I found my own way to measure success. I feel that if I measured success in any other way, it would be unobtainable.

I think success comes from a state of mind. You're ready for it and you're strong minded. You go after things and you challenge yourself. And you do set your own definitions. I think that it's important that you understand how you perceive success and you go after it, your ultimate definition of happiness. Some people may never even think about it and they go along with the flow.

I think one difference between my generation and past generations is that I don't see that I have to pick one career and stick with it the rest of my life. I think that leads to the restless feeling and confusion of what I want to do next. It's kind of an exciting feeling as well because I'm constantly playing a game with myself asking myself, "if all of this were to end today, what would I be doing tomorrow?" And I get really creative in the process. Yesterday, I was thinking about going to Germany and becoming a brewmeister. That one doesn't follow a lot of my other ideas. I want to earn my pilot's license and I want to do all these different things and I'm still young enough to go do it. So I think that's where it differs between our generation and the past. Everything is out there and no one is really telling us that we can't do it and if they are then that just fuels the fire.

I think there are an endless amount of possibilities out there. It's important to maintain your own happiness. Push yourself and really live. There are too many people that are content with doing the same thing every single day, and that's fine, but if you're not happy living like that, you need to change it. You can't be afraid of taking that leap. It's like when I was in high school, we have this filling basin in South Dakota right on the Missouri river. We used to go up there and to be cool the guys would jump off the basin into the water and water would rush in from the dam. It's a nice long jump And it's the first time I ever thought I was going to act tough. I was with all these other guys and I thought I'm going to jump. I went up there and I stood there for so long that I psyched myself out of jumping and I had to climb down the ladder. I'll never forget that. I should have just jumped. I should have just gone for it. A few years later I went back there and I just jumped in. It felt so great. There was nothing to be afraid of. The thought of doing something and making it happen. It was so symbolic of my life. I just had to do it. If you get into that comfort zone, I question whether you'll ever really be able to enjoy life.