The most common misconception of being a young adult is that you should know what you want to do. Dream big when you’re 5. Astronaut? Done. Firefighter? You can do it if you work hard. President of the United States? Anything is possible.
Fast forward to your first day of highschool. Astronaut? Yeah, no. Firefighter? Don’t be too sure about that. President of the United States? Let’s be real here. On a side note, I hate that word. Not because I don’t believe in pragmatism but because people need to realize that realism is not the same as pessimism, that dreams can be attainable if we shift what our understanding of ‘realistic’ is.
The point is is that young adults are victims of a culture in which we have to know what we love and what we’re going to do for the rest of our lives before our personalities have even begun to solidify. That’s why, when I came into college, I had my life planned out by the year. Graduate at 22, spend 5 years in medical school where I meet my future significant other, get married at 27, complete 3 years of residency by 30, have 3 kids by 35 and the list goes on and on. As long as I made enough money to have a comfortable life and family, I’d be happy. But, as cliche as it sounds, life will never go as planned. And I think that really became true for me as I started on my college journey.
In retrospect, the best thing I did for myself during my freshman year was to push the frontier of my comfort zone. Even though I was intending to be pre-med, I joined the Mock Trial team at school, remembering that I had always wanted to improve my public speaking skills. Although I was a biology major, I took a random social justice course offered through the Political Science Department. And even though I’ve always been on the shyer, self-conscious side, focused more on academics than anything else, I began exploring other interests and parts of my personality which I’d never done before.
And after just one semester, everything changed.
Now I’m a political science and philosophy double major on a pre-law track. I love socializing and I love being involved with different groups and initiatives both on and off campus. I know that I won’t be making as much money as a doctor or an engineer but happiness is a currency of its own. And planning my entire life around my biological clock no longer is the central framework for my life because I am surrounded by passionate, ambitious women who constantly remind me that my career aspirations can be goals on their own.
A lot of students come into college caught between their identities as children and their new label as a young adults. Some blindly follow the direction laid before them by their families and by a culture which tells you that success is defined by dollars and only attainable through certain careers. But in my experience, the diversions, the explorations, the unexpected obstacles and alternative paths taken to move past them - those are the paths which define who we truly are.
