The summer going into junior year is when many people get internships in whatever ever career field they are looking to pursue, or they go abroad. At least for me, it seems that wherever I look, people are doing things for their careers, and I’m just sitting here with no clue what I want to do with the rest of my life. And then I realized, that’s okay. It’s okay to have a summer job that isn’t directly related to my future career, whatever that may be. It’s okay because I’m still learning valuable skills that I can apply to many different careers, like being on time for work and doing my jobs timely and how to interact with older people in the workplace being friendly and polite.
It’s okay to not know for sure what you want to do with your life as long as you continue trying to figure it out. Working different summer jobs has allowed me to learn which careers I definitely do NOT want to pursue, which, in turn, helps me narrow down my list of job fields I actually might want to pursue.
Working a regularly scheduled job has taught me discipline. It has taught me that I still have to go to work on days I don’t feel the best or just don’t feel like working. It has taught me that appearance and presentation matter, even if it’s not in the job description. It has taught me how to maintain a calm disposition when people are rude to me, and it has helped further instill in me the value of a dollar.
I have accepted that I am not sure what I want to do with the rest of my life, and, with that, it was as if this huge pressure was lifted. I am no longer constantly stressed about not knowing, and I no longer let it bother me when people ask what I want to do with the rest of my life. Yes, my eight-year-old cousins can tell you what they want to be when they grow up, and, yes, a twenty-year-old going into her third year of college still can’t tell you, but that’s okay.
It’s not necessary to freak out if you still don’t have a concrete life plan, and if you’re still not sure what you want to do with the rest of your life. There is still time to explore different careers that you are interested in, even though the time to declare your major has passed. According to CBS News, out of 2,134 people surveyed, “47 percent of college graduates did not find a first job that was related to their college major” and “32 percent of college grads said they had never worked in a field related to their majors.” (You can read the full article here.)
And after realizing all of this, I’m here to tell you that, wherever you are at in your stage of deciding a life plan, it’s okay.
