When you were younger, deciding who you wanted to be when you grew up was almost like a game. Questioning everything, you changed your mind quite a few times. You could be a doctor, a singer, an actor, maybe even a teacher. Maybe your time was spent playing school for hours because when you grew up, that’s exactly what you wanted to do. Everything was all fun and games until you reached adulthood.
Before even getting into a college or university you are expected to know exactly what it is you want to study because you are told that is extremely important. You’re supposed to know how you want to spend the rest of your life and if you don’t know, you go in undecided, putting even more pressure on you as a student. You fall behind because taking pre-requisites is something a declared major does. But how is that fair? How are you supposed to know?
Maybe you do know. Maybe you’re not entirely sure. Maybe you are going to graduate in four years with a degree that, upon graduation, you absolutely hate. And just maybe you are going to attain a job in that field and suffer for the rest of your life. And maybe you are just going to regret having a plan. But that is what we’re supposed to do, right?
Wrong. It is okay to be unsure about what you want to do with the rest of your life. As an accountancy major, I get asked all the time “are you going to get your CPA” and “are you going to grad school”, but the truth is, I actually have no idea.
That’s the thing; life is supposed to be spontaneous, unexpected, filled with randomness. You’re not supposed to have a plan. Being young, you’re supposed to live in the moment, take chances, change your mind. You’re still growing. Just because you may not know exactly where you want to be in six, four, even two years, doesn’t mean you’re not successful. It doesn’t mean you won’t make it in the world. It doesn’t make you any less of a person than any of the declared majors or people who have their entire lives mapped out. It makes you imperfect. It makes you human.
When students get to college, they get so absorbed in the fact that they have to join this club, get this position, have straight A’s… but what is the fun in that? What is the fun in having your entire life mapped out? Obviously, those things will look great on a resume, but you only live once. Students often get so caught up in that fact and they forget to live. They forget to go talk to that person who always ends up sitting by them in class. They forget to checkout that museum on campus they always walk past. They forget to do all sorts of spare in the moment things while they can. They forget to be young. They forget to live.
Because you’re not supposed to have a plan. You’re supposed to take life each moment at a time. You’re supposed to take chances. You’re supposed to change your mind a billion times. You’re supposed to live.
