With graduation now only weeks away, I can’t help but begin to wonder what I am going to want to do once I get out in to the real world. Will I want to continue my schooling and come back to get my masters? Will I still want to pursue a job that falls within the realm of my finance major? Will I want to drop everything and take a year to travel the world?
To be honest, I don’t have an answer to any of those questions. One minute I dream of being the CEO of a financial tycoon in the midst of New York City, and the next minute I want to open a small coffee shop on the shores of Costa Rica. Either way, I really just want to be happy. Starting off college I was determined to find a job four years down the road that just made good money. I didn’t care if I would hate it or love it just as long as it paid me well. Now as I get ready to venture out into the world, money doesn’t seem to matter as much. I used to think finding a job that you were happy to go to everyday was a bit overrated and almost naïve. I realize how incredibly wrong I was. The thought of waking up and having to go to a job I can’t stand five days a week for the rest of my life terrifies me. I am desperate to do something that makes me happy to get up each morning. Life is hard enough as it is. Why do people consistently choose to make it harder on themselves by doing something that makes them unhappy? I understand that money does play a large factor -- trust me I do. Even more so, I understand life is too goddamn short. Do what you love. Change the world. Change your world. We only have one shot at this, so anything short of happiness won’t cut it.
If you want to be a doctor, be a doctor. If you want to travel the world and sell your handmade jewelry, then pack your bags tomorrow. Heck, if you want to sell seashells on the seashore, do that. Stop saying you will be able to do what you love later on down the road. All of us graduating college are in our early twenties. Now is the time to try out different jobs, to see the world, and to most importantly find ourselves and discover what really makes us happy. Now is the time to start living our dreams, not later down the road when we get around to it.
