When I came to college, I was 18 years old and had nothing figured out. Everyone asked me my major, which is such a harmless question, but it was so irritating to me at the time, because I didn't have one. They told me, "Oh being an open major is fine! You will figure it out.".
I was stupid enough to believe them.
I am now 20 years old and I still have nothing figured out.
You think as the years progress, and the semesters pass that you will eventually figure your s**t out or have this epiphany of what your calling is. It happens for some lucky ones. I thought it happened for me when I declared on Marketing as my major toward the end of first semester of sophomore year, but now here I am in the business college feeling out of place.
For a while I felt really lost but what I learned is that, yeah not everyone comes into college knowing what they want to do but more importantly, not everyone leaves college knowing what they want to do either. We are so young and have so much time to try new things, and to figure out where we belong.
So here are some things to remember if your path is undetermined:
You Will Fail.
You will take opportunities that you may end up hating. But that's just one more thing that you can cross off the endless list of possibilities that are provided for us as college students. It's the only way to narrow down what is actually right for you. Sometimes it takes figuring out what you're bad at, before you realize what you're great at.
Not Everything is Black and White.
There will be gray areas and things will sometimes be unclear. Not every question can be answered with yes or no, and not every action you take or decision you make can be defined as right or wrong. A lot of times you won't know what to do, but nobody really knows what they're doing, so just keep going and don't look back.
Be Patient.
You have a lifetime to figure out what you want to do. Just because you don't know now, doesn't mean that you won't know later. So don't give up yet, and don't settle for something that makes you unhappy (as cheesy as it sounds).
Don't Compare.
Don't compare yourself to others who do have things figured out. Just because they're ahead of the game, doesn't mean you're behind. If it weren't for the over achievers in this world, no one would feel stressed out about their current situation, so just try and ignore where they're at, because it's not an accurate representation of where everyone else should be.
Live in the Moment.
Don't waste too much time worrying about what is to come, that you lose sight of what is happening in the present. College will be the best 4 years of your life and also the fastest, so make sure you take the time to stop stressing about the future, so you can enjoy every second of what's happening right now.
So when you're going through your trials and tribulations, having doubts, feeling unsuccessful, unprepared, or lost, just remember this quote:
"Take risks. Ask the dumb questions. Fail if you have to, and then get up and do it again.". -Jacqueline Novogratz
