"What do you want to do with your life?"
How many times have you heard that one? I think I used to hear it at least a dozen times a week from different people. Why don't I hear it anymore? The people asking realize they're not going to get the answer they want, so they've stopped asking. What do I tell them? I'm figuring it out one step at a time.
No, you don't have to figure out your life right this second. We put so much stress on ourselves to plan out our entire lives by the time we're 18 that we end up more clueless than ever. I truly am amazed by those select few who do have that clear plan and manage to make it work. For the rest of us, we don't have to know what 80 is going to be like when we're 21.
If my life is spent in tireless pursuit of "figuring it all out," I will spend my whole life feeling dissatisfied. I may figure more things out, but I will never have it all figured out. That end goal just doesn't exist.
You can't know what you're going to do with your life right now because you don't know who you're going to be, what you'll be able to do, what you'll be passionate about, who you'll meet, what opportunities will come up, or what the world will be like. But you do know this: if you are prepared, you can do anything you want.
When you graduate high school, actually take the time to figure out what suits you. If you want to go to college, find one that will accommodate your needs. Not your parents' needs. Not your friends' needs. YOUR needs. If you choose to join the armed forces — all the power and respect to you. If you need to take a year off, then do it. It's YOUR journey.
There is no point in life where you know what exactly it is that you are going to do forever. You are constantly molding into a different version of yourself and changing your goals, dreams, and interests. Even though life has a way of making you feel as if you are supposed to know at a young age, you don't have to.
Life is a process of trial and error and is all about trying different things and seeing how much you do or do not enjoy them. You're not supposed to know what it is that you want to do for the rest of your life, you're just supposed to know what you want to do now.
