Before you read the rest of this article, I want you to just think about that quote for a second. Just pause and think about what Brandon Sanderson (a phenomenal author, by the way) is saying. Just contemplate and meditate on that for a second.

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.” -Brandon Sanderson

Never in my life have I read something truer than that. If you're anything like me, and in this way, I would assume that you probably are, you probably don't know what you want to do with the rest of your life. Me either. Actually, it changes every day and while there is this constant pressure to "know what you want to do with your life", I don't think its necessary.

Actually, I think the idea of the unknown is kind of... powerful and exciting.

At this point, you might be like "OK, but what is this girl talking about? Is she OK?"

Hear me out.

Ever since we were practically babies, we were being asked: "what do you want to be when you grow up?" I answered with the same things that a lot of you probably answered with as well: Vet, teacher, doctor. These are all careers that society, our parents and family, and even our teachers, want us to aspire to. They're ideal careers, right? Respectable, reliable, and all those other good descriptive words.

Don't get me wrong, these are all good careers, but I can't help but feel like sometimes we're pushed into these fields without really being able to explore our other options. Does anyone else feel like this?

Let me explain to you why I feel like this:

I've always loved English and writing. All through school, these were my two best subjects because I thoroughly enjoyed them, whereas I hated math, and as a result, I wasn't very good at it either. For a lot of my life, I told my family I was going to go to med school, but that was never something I really wanted to do; I just said I was going to because that's what everyone else wanted from me.

Eventually, I realized that I wasn't interested in being a doctor, and I realized I was just trying to please others by saying that I did. I realized what I wanted to do was major in English, so I started telling people that instead.

If you're not an English major, let me explain to you that it's not really something people seem to understand when you tell them that's what you want to do. Every time I told someone that I was going to major in English, they all said the same thing: "What are you going to do with that? Teach? That's about all you can do with an English degree."

No, that isn't what I wanted to do with my English degree. I wanted to write. I wanted to go into publishing and editing. I thought about journalism. There was so much that I could have done, but it felt like all anyone expected me to do was teach.

At the end of my junior year, I applied to be a Teacher Cadet, which was another class that I could take, that would allow me to do observations around local schools within the classrooms, and would allow me to learn some of the basics about education and becoming a teacher. This was the first year that I told my guidance counselor that I wanted to get a degree in English, and I was starting to consider Education, as well.

So that's what I did. I applied for a Teaching Fellows scholarship and was then awarded it. A scholarship that would give me $24,000 over the course of my four-year undergraduate degree, but to receive it, I had to agree to teach for four years in a public school in South Carolina.

In the fall of 2016, I started going to College of Charleston, double majoring in Secondary Education and English. So, yeah. I'm going to be a high school English teacher for at least four years. Who knows what I'm going to do after that.

Let me make it clear that often times I don't think I'm going into the right field. Yes, I have a passion for English Literature and I also love the feeling of purpose that teaching gives me. With that being said, I've listened to my fellow peers talk about the education field, many of them seemingly having such a deep passion for it that isn't quite so reflected within my own passions.

I don't regret pursuing my degree in Secondary Education, and I know that within that field I am going to do great things and influence many lives. But I can't help but wonder what else would've been out there for me. Maybe I was influenced by what others were saying, maybe I didn't push myself enough, maybe I settled.

Or maybe I didn't and this is exactly what I'm supposed to be doing.

My point is, is that I don't know what I'm doing with my life; not really, anyway. I know that I want to write and I know that my true passion lies within Literature, but I know that right now, it is the field of Education that needs me and requires what will one day be an ample amount of knowledge that I will be able to pass on to my students.

After I'm done with my four years, I don't know what I'll do. I don't know if I will continue teaching. if I will go back to school, if I will try to get my first book published... I have no idea what the future holds.

And I think that's OK.

It's important that you're happy but it is also important to remember that so much pressure is put on us from such a young age to know exactly what we want to do. You are forever a changing person and your interests will continue to change and grow as you age. If you want to be a teacher right now, you might not in fifteen years and you might want to go back to school. That's OK.

I've realized that what's important is that right now, I'm content and happy with what I'm doing. It doesn't matter what other people have said about it or what they're going to say about it.

I think it's important to remember that none of us really know what we want to do. We all have paths that are laid out before us and we have to pick one. Your path is going to change many times. Just remember that everyone feels that way, whether they're twenty, or thirty, or even sixty.

We're all trying to figure it out but I don't think anyone ever actually does. So don't worry about it. Do what makes you happy and let everything else work itself out over time like it's going to.