Everyone in high school seems so put together, everyone seems to know what they want to do with their lives. Some people know they want to be doctors, taking all honors and advanced placement biology and math classes. Other people, the ones who spend their time in the theater wing of the school, know they want to preform for a living. To these people, high school seems like a safe place, a place where they can blossom and perfect their crafts. But what if you’re someone like me, who doesn’t know what they want to do? To these people, high school is a scary, scary place.

I’ve always thought I wanted a career in journalism; ever since the seventh grade, I’ve put myself in the classes that I thought would help me become a better journalist. I focused on honors English and history classes, and starting my freshman year, I began to take journalism classes, such as yearbook and newspaper. I thought I knew what I wanted in life, but sometimes I’m not so sure. I always think, “what if I want to work in business or advertising instead of journalism?” I often find myself critiquing commercials on TV and on the radio. I used to want to be a performer; I immersed myself in various theater productions and dance classes. However I soon realized that usually, that doesn’t pan out well for people. When I was in eighth grade, a career counselor came in and gave us personality quizzes that were supposed to tell us what career cluster we were most likely to succeed in. I, of course, got “communications, AV technologies, and performing.” This was no surprise to me or my friends and family. Despite all of these signs pointing to a career in communications, I can’t help but to wonder what other options I have.

My dad sells health insurance. He works in an office of about 10 people, and over the summer, I had my first office experience working as a receptionist there. Everyone at the office was so nice, but I hated just sitting at a computer, entering numbers and names all day. In that sense, I know what I don’t want to do. In my English class, we learned what the concept of deductive reasoning is. I tried to use deductive reasoning to narrow down what jobs aren’t desk jobs, however to my dismay, there are a lot more interactive jobs than I thought.

Still, when someone asks things like “where do you see yourself in ten years?” I think of myself living in New York, working for a news station like NBC or ABC. However, I don’t know if that’s actually what I want, or if I’m just telling myself it’s what I want. I tell myself I have time to think about it, but I really don’t have that much time. As a sophomore, I have about a year and a half, maybe less, to decide what I want to do with my life. As a kid, one of my favorite movies was “High School Musical 3; Senior Year.” In this movie, all of the main characters are seniors trying to decide what college they want to go to and what they want to do there. I always thought they were so grown up, and I never thought I’d be one of them. Unfortunately, my time to decide is coming fast, and I hope I make the right choice.

Walking through the halls of my school, I often feel terrified. I don’t like my school very much, but I’m scared of what comes next. What if I choose wrong? My only hope is that I make a choice that I will be happy with, I’ll have to live with it my whole life.