Moving on from high school is such an amazing experience, but it also can be overwhelming.
Who am I kidding to describe it as overwhelming-- that is an understatement. I feel like a universal experience we all have is asking ourselves What am I going to do for the rest of my life? Sure there’s no specific age or limit to how many times we may ask ourselves this question, but as you face graduation or moving on, you realize you have to take action toward finding an answer.
I’m sure we’re all familiar with relatives, friends, and even strangers asking what you doing after graduation. And what’s even worse is being in that moment and having no idea of what to say.
Say you want to go to college but don’t know how to pick a major. The question pops up again echoing in your head: What am I going to do for the rest of my life? This situation is one I found myself in all throughout high school, and it seemed like most people at my school knew what their major was, what job they wanted, and just appeared to have the answer to what they wanted to do the rest of their life.
I used to look at them and think of how lucky they were to be on the right path. And that since I didn’t know my major, I was on the wrong one.
But an undecided major doesn’t mean I’m on the wrong path. It sounds crazy, but thinking what am I going to do for the rest of my life and not having an answer isn’t all that bad-- at least I’m asking myself that question.
I realized that not being able to choose my major came from wanting the best for my future, and not knowing what was going to be the best for me.
Going into college undecided doesn’t mean you’re going to leave undecided.
it means you’re exploring your options and haven’t nor should settle on a major. It means you’re keeping your options and opportunities open, so that when you find the perfect one you can grasp it.
Not knowing is just pushing yourself to know more! An undecided major can be a scary thing, and no matter how cliche this sounds, it’s one of the reasons I realized that an undecided major is okay. Because life is a journey, not a destination.
Trust me. I know what you’re thinking because I’m thinking it too, “I can’t go through life without a job” because no matter how optimistic you try to be, reality has to set in some time. A job is such a quintessential part of life, because a job is how we get money and money is what buys us happiness…. well maybe not exactly, but essentially.
Nowadays, money is how the world works and what we consider the key to success-- and thus people are quick to choose a major based on jobs and money. And while that’s good and all, what if you choose something you don’t want to do... and maybe you never get that high paying job. Or you hate it so much that you can’t enjoy the paycheck.
We choose a major because we want a job. And that was the huge intimidation I felt. That in picking my major, I was defining what kind of job I wanted and I had no clue.
I realized your job is not what you have to do the rest of your life; it’s not like you’re locked into it, and it represents your hobbies and free time. More importantly, choosing a major is not the same thing as choosing a job-- even though it feels like it.
Instead, a major represents what kind of thinker you want to be-- a learning that you can use to succeed out in the real world and to fuel your desire to succeed. The most important thing is to fuel your desire to succeed.
Heck, I don't even think you have to go to college to be successful, if it feels more like a waste of money and a damper on your desire, than I feel like you should find something that fuels your desire, whether than be the work force, the military, volunteering, entrepreneurship, or whatever you want to do since we live in a wonderful world where you can achieve it.
Sure it's so much easier to do a puzzle by putting the frame together first, but if you can’t find a frame you like, it’s okay. In fact, the moment you stop trying to fit your puzzle pieces into a frame and just start to build, building without looking at limits, peer pressure, or social expectations, you realize your puzzle is capable of wonderful shapes and colors that can't be defined by any preset image, or job, or major.
I used to think that I’d give anything to find the answer to my question, but now I’m not so sure that there is one permanent answer to the question of What you want to do for the rest of your life?
