I'm a college freshman (almost a sophomore, but that's an existential crisis for another time), and I have no idea where I'm going in life. It's scary, but is it really so bad? Sure, it can be stressful not to know where you're headed quite yet, but it won't kill you. Changing your plan is not the end of the world, even if it feels like it at the moment.
When your plans go awry, you have no idea what to do about it. That is mostly because you spend all 12 years of your grade school education preparing for your college years. By junior and senior year of high school, you are expected to have your college years planned out to the T. You are supposed to know exactly what you want to do and where you want to end up. We're told to get our lives together, to form a plan and stick to it. Wavering from your plan last minute is seen as risky, maybe even irresponsible, but what if your plan ends up being the wrong one for you?
My plan was to be a business major, and I stuck with that plan from my junior year in high school until the spring semester. One month into 2016 and I knew that being a business major was not right for me. I spent so much time working towards a plan I made at 17 just to discover that I was wrong. I was told for so long to keep with my plan, yet here I was, in my second semester of freshman year, not as interested in being a business major as I thought I would be. But what was I supposed to do about it? No one told me how to handle a change in my college plans, so I had to figure it out.
And figure it out, I did. I ended up changing my major to sociology and adding a minor in gender studies, things I am very passionate about. My current plan is to work towards getting my sociology degree and find a career with an advocacy group, but who's to say I'll stay here? Personally, I hope I keep to this path, but the universe certainly has a sense of humor and I know things can change at any second. The point is, at this juncture of my life, I have no idea where I am going, and I'm okay with that because I know I'll find it when it's time.
It's okay not to know where you're going just yet. Plans change, you form new ideas all the time, and that's fine. Don't feel pressured to have your entire life planned out in your freshman year of college. Don't expect your plan to stay the exact same forever. All you have to do is follow your passions. You will find out where you're going, where you're meant to be, and you will get there. And when you do, the struggles you faced won't seem so bad in hindsight.
