People always talk about the dreaded questions that you are typically asked during family gatherings like "what are your plans for college" or "what are your plans after college." I have always struggled with this because for me I am not necessarily worried about answering. It is easy to make up some elaborate plan that you intend to follow, but what I find to be the real problem is not actually knowing for yourself.
Some people seem to have it all figured out. They have had the same passion their whole life and frankly, they are just good at what they want to do. Some people just know that they want to be doctors and they can take Chem (and not fail) and it just seems to all fall into their laps. Of course, this is probably how it looks and everyone has their own struggles, but most of the time everyone has no idea what they are doing. I am one of those people. I know what I am good at and I know what I want to major in, but I have absolutely no idea if it'll work out and I have come to the conclusion that that is completely okay.
I don't want to go on and on about how much life can suck, I want to talk about reasons why I know everything will be okay. I didn't have some epiphany that made me realize that everything works out, it is more of the realization that things sometimes don't work out- but knowing that it's not the end of the world. No matter what failure is presented, you have to continue working hard and doing your best.
Fearing failure is something that has always haunted me. Now that I am in college, it's a little bit different because they seem to be bigger decisions like worrying if I major in something that I will get all the way to end and then suddenly realize I am just not good at it or that I just don't enjoy it. I've decided that this is not how I a want to live, and I wanted to make this article about all of the ways I have started living and thinking in an effort to prevent self-doubt.
It is so easy to focus on how hard life is. I get caught up in it and it's as simple as fixating on overwhelming amounts of homework or things that I have to do. I've learned that sometimes it's okay to say yes to things. For example, if my friends want to take a break and go walk around downtown and get something to eat, it is okay to say yes. I am not going to get too far behind if I take an hour out of my day to so do something that I enjoy, as long as I have my priorities straight and I can still manage my time.
Something else I have been working on is having more gratitude. I have started naming three things every day that I am grateful for. I 100% suggest that everyone does it. It gives yourself some time to just sit there and not worrying about everything that seems to be in ruins around you and allows you to just have a few seconds of calmness. It has helped me express gratitude to everyone in my life. If I take time to think of everything that is good in life and stop fixating on all of the weight that I feel like I have on myself then I am able to see what everyone that I am thankful for is doing.
Ultimately, yeah, life is pretty scary and sometimes it seems like nothing will work out, but I promise that it will. Learning to enjoy life and be thankful for the small things make the things that seem big a lot less scary.
