Some kids pop out of the womb knowing what they are going to do with their lives. They are going to a nurse, a doctor, a business person, or the president (Donald Drumpf, you were not meant for this, what are you doing? Leave). And then there are kids like me, kids who have no idea what they want to do with their life. There are a lot of things I could do, things I'd be interested in doing, but there has yet to be something that I'm super passionate about. Usually when asked what I want to do with the rest of my life, I usually answer with a shrug. I felt more OK about this last year when I just a freshman, still trying to figure out that the Northwestern everyone was talking about wasn't the one in Chicago. Now, the shrug isn't just a cute, "I'm not sure yet." It's more of a panicked "I'm almost 20 and I have no idea what I'm doing with my life and it seems like everyone else around me does and I'm probably going to live my parents house for the rest of my life."
And you know what? That's fine. Not the living with your parents for the rest of your life, unless you're about that life, but the having no clue. I'm only 19. I've barely been an adult for two years. When I'm out of college, no matter what, I'm not going to walk right into my dream job, if I've got that figured out by then or not. Maybe I won't even know my dream job until I've got it. To quote my all time favorite musical "Into the Woods," "How do you know what you want till you get what you want and see if you like it?"
I've learned the whole point of college is to figure yourself out. Figure out what you like, who you are as a person, what types of people you can handle living with, and, if you're lucky, maybe you figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. If anything, college is spring board for the rest of your life. So you don't have a clue, that's OK. I don't either, and you're here to get a clue and figure it all out. Next time someone asks me what I want to do with my life, I'm not going to panic. I'm going to explain that I'm not really sure yet -- I'm still figuring it all out.
And let's be honest here, all those kids who seem to know exactly what they are doing with the rest of their lives? They probably don't have a clue either. If you can name me one person who walked into college knowing exactly what they wanted to do right away and are currently doing that, I'll be extremely impressed.
If you are still panicking about the fact that you have no idea what you're doing with your life, I recently got a tip from a very reliable source (my father). Don't shoot for the big goal, don't shoot for the endgame. Find the little goals that are going to impact your life right now, like making sure you can find a summer job, what classes you're going to take next semester, studying for that exam next Friday. The big stuff? That's all going to work itself out, and there is no point in worrying about all of that right now.
