"What are you doing after...High school/College/Grad school/you name it?" This is a phrase I hear more often than I would like to say every time I visit home, or go to the doctor or am eating dinner...you get the gist. This is a common question (I hate to say) I ask my friends on the daily. We are constantly working towards our next move. If I'm not being reminded that my major is seemingly pointless, then I'm being reminded of the plan I'm supposed to have.
Look, I get it. Some of you genuinely just want to know what I'm up to, and how I'm doing. And I understand the importance of having a plan and having goals (if you know me at all, you know they are what make my world go round). The thing is though, I have this feeling that these kinds of questions, which every one faced at some point in their lives is a bit heavier for my generation. Allow me to explain:
Since a young age, we have been bound for greatness. No, really, my mom said so. One of the biggest issues people have with the millennial generation is that we are given participation trophies, and have been indoctrinated thinking we are the world's next best thing. And while these notions are great for the development of self-esteem for children, as young adults we carry these once harmless aspirations as self fulfilling prophecies we must live up to, no matter what.
So many great, young minds have gained popularity and importance recently. This can be inspirational to some, but more often than not, puts people in a position to push themselves to achieve a larger-than-life goal set for them. But, Mackenzie, that's a good thing, right? You said it yourself, you live off of goals. I do, reader, I do. But my point is, we have an innate amount of pressure for each and every 'important' person to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, have our goals planned if not already in play, with the world as our oyster by age 30. We're taught the American Dream, "If you work hard enough, you'll succeed." I however, have recently realized, you can in fact do everything 'correctly,' and not achieve the desired goal.
We rush through our lives thinking only of our next move. I can't name a day in the past year in which I wasn't thinking about a future job, my current one, my grades, or ways to improve my resume. With this mentality I've woken up to find, I'm half way through college, questioning if I've even changed. Have I grown? Have I experienced life instead of pressing forward to the next stage? What am I doing if not preparing for the future potential happiness?
My point being not to throw away all ambition, but to remember that each day could be our last. When your five, seven, ten year plan doesn't work out, what are you going to have to show for it? What will you remember? Wake up marveling in the fact your eyes opened today, thanking the good Lord for who you are right now in this moment. Quit thinking about who you could be, and focus on who you are. You don't have to be the world's next hero, but the hero in your own life, in your own world, in the single, blessed life you've got.
