There are two main questions every college student is asked at every family get together:
"What are you majoring in?" and "What are you going to do with that?"
The questions themselves aren’t bad, they’re standard, actually. But what I can’t get over is the expectation that comes with them. The most annoying part of these exchanges is when I answer: “History and Creative Writing” and “I don’t know.”
This may not be the case for everyone, but in my experience, the older a person is than me, the more likely it is for them to not understand my perspective. It’s a kind of generation gap that makes these conversations so hard because they don’t remember what it’s like to be a young adult in college anymore, or at least they don’t know what it’s like now.
College has been the most confusing time in my life. It can feel like I’m playing pretend at being an adult. Being thrown into a new reality where I need to decide what I want to do for the rest of my life, but am still told when I’m allowed to go to the bathroom by professors, is quite the contradiction. So is pressuring me to decide on my majors, and then criticizing my choices.
People try to make me feel like I need their approval for my plans. It is easy to brush it off and say that those who ask just care about you, but to be honest, their affection for you doesn’t, or shouldn’t, reside in their stance on your career choices. Yes, I’m studying history. No, I don’t want to be a teacher. And to be frank, it doesn’t concern you. There is a line where general curiosity turns into unwelcomed injection. I know I’m not the only person sick of defending themselves when they should be enjoying themselves.
The truth is, the future is uncertain. Even if I wanted to be a lawyer, or a doctor, or something else with an “end goal,” that doesn’t mean my life would be better off. There are endless factors that can determine how life ends up. So, I chose to study something that may be considered “impractical," but that doesn’t mean I am doomed to a life of financial instability. As everyone always tells me, I have my whole life ahead of me. What some see as impractical, I see as interesting and fulfilling.
I feel strongly that by choosing to major in History and Creative Writing, I will gain the skills I need to enjoy my life. Sure, I get stressed about the future, who doesn’t, but I remind myself that not knowing how I’m going to use my degrees doesn’t mean I’m not going to use them. As long as I learn the skills, I will have endless opportunities, maybe even more than I would’ve had with a structured plan.
So, I’m sure I will be asked these same questions countless times this holiday season, but as much as I dread them, I am prepared for them. I chose my majors because History and Writing are a part of who I am, not just a way to find a job.