Hey you,

I know what you’re struggling with, and that’s because I’ve struggled with the same thing too. It’s the age old question of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s the question your grandparents ask you every Thanksgiving and Christmas, or really just anytime they see you. Old friends ask you if you figured it out yet, and new friends ask you when you’re going to. For the college student, all those small feelings of anxiety surrounding that one question are amplified times a thousand. You’re growing up and it’s time you figured it out, but you still don’t know, and that’s OK.

When I was younger, I thought I had everything figured out. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now, I’m not so sure. From wanting to be a writer to a doctor and then back to a writer, I feel like my mind has been on the extremes of both ends of the spectrum when it comes to what I want to do with my future, and I’m sure you probably feel the same way. I’m indecisive, I know, but besides that fact, I’m also just growing up, seeing all the options that I have for how I want to pursue a future for the first time. There’s more out there than I originally thought, so many different career paths I could choose to take, and I think I’m just really seeing that for the first time.

There are so many options out there, so many very diverse and extremely fulfilling career paths you can take, and because of that, I think it’s more than okay that it’s a little hard for some of us to figure out which of those paths work best for us. The world is bright, the world is full of endless possibility, and it takes time to understand exactly how we want to take advantage of it.

So what's my advice, you might ask? Well, I've struggled a lot with how to answer this age old question regarding the future, and I think I've come to the conclusion that it's okay to simply respond with, "I don't know, but I'm trying to figure it out." Your future is important, and you shouldn't be ashamed of taking your time to figure it out. It's taken me a while to understand that, but now that I do, the day of being embarrassed about not knowing are over.

So weigh your options, take classes you like and work towards doing something you enjoy. Things will work themselves out. So from one struggling college student to another, it'll be okay. Things might be confusing now, but isn't that what life is meant to be sometimes? Everything will work itself out, and that is something I can promise.

Don't worry,

A Confused College Student