As a college student, I have been struggling a lot with keeping my head held high for the future, and I realized I was not alone when my friend Namra was a little upset. It is very hard to lose sight of your future when the noise of society and expectations are hounding your brain. You bump into one person that you have not seen in a long time in the local grocery store and they ask:

"How's school?"

The conversation then goes exactly as I will list below, practically every time:

"Good. It's school. Stressed."

"Oh yeah? I bet. Where do you go to school?"

"I go to __________"

"Oh, what are you going for?"

"My major is __________"

"That's great good for you! Do you know what you want to do"

" (Some made up uncertain or falsely portrayed confident answer) "

My point is, it is exhausting to expect to know what you want to do, even if you graduate tomorrow! No one can predict the events of tomorrow, so why do they ask that of us?

This gets me and many college students in the mindset that we MUST know what we want, get it immediately upon graduation, and keep that job FOREVER...or else...you are a FAILURE.

Well here is a word of advice: WRONG.

It is so wrong! No job is forever, unless you make sure of it or if the world stops changing (which is never does).

In this realization, I created a bucket list...and or more of a dream list of things I would like to do in my life. This way, if I do find myself doing something for a long time, I can look back on my list and realize it is not forever. It is not about that ONE first job, it is about all of the moments after it.

Our lives have a beginning and end, where a job is our main focus. What we forget is that is about the moments in between as well.

Make your list and you will feel like a person again; a special and whole person with goals other than school and work.

I put things on my list that was as simple as going somewhere with friends, enjoying a peaceful day like in the movies, and some ideas were a little more extra. Regardless, they make you who you are because they are your wishes, no matter how realistic or unrealistic they are.

In making both a list for my friend and me, I came to an understanding that nothing is definite. There are constantly new ideas that evolve with your personality, that may appear on your current list that you would maybe not have written even a year ago!

Keep adding and adding. That way, when you come to the end of a hard day and are feeling lost, you will have found yourself once again, because of just a few words on a page.

It is simply all by your design, you just have to create it!