One day you’re walking down the stage accepting your diploma, and every single person you know starts to ask about your future. Where are you going to school? What do you want to be? How much are you going to make? As if we are supposed to have the next 20 years of our lives planned out despite the fact we spent the last 18 having our parents and teachers decide everything for us.

Here I am, two years into college and I still have no idea what I want. I don’t know what side of dipping sauce I want with my nuggets, let alone who I’m going to marry someday. It’s all just happening too fast. Everyone online is either engaged or pregnant, and even though it may not seem like it, I am not the weird one. It’s okay that I haven’t found the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s okay that I am still testing the waters of career options. I am so sick of everyone pretending that you’re just supposed to know these things.

College is a time of experimentation. It’s the one point in your life that you are really only responsible for yourself, so when you royally screw up, it’s actually going to be perfectly fine. It’s okay to not like your job, there are plenty of other one’s out there. It’s okay to be bad with your money, because you can and will make more. And it is fine if you waste a day, or fail a class, or eat something you shouldn’t. You mess up, get up, and try something new. That’s what this time is for.

So go out there, make mistakes, learn lessons, and live without a fear of the unknown. Take on the challenges that interest you, not the ones that fit in some plan. We are each given this life to live it, not plan it.