Everyone has heard of the "mid-life crisis", you know where your 40-50 something year old father randomly trades in his SUV for some sports car, starts tanning, or does something completely out of the ordinary and acts like a 20 something year old. Not everyone goes through a "mid-life crisis" but for those that do, everyone around them just grins and bears it and hopes it passes as quickly as it came on. But what about a "senior year crisis"?
There comes a point in a lot of students senior years, whether it be in high school or college, where they have no idea what the hell they are doing. With graduation coming up fast, so is the future. As a college senior I have been thinking a lot about what comes next. Do you what to know what I've come up with? I have absolutely no idea. I have started thinking about different career paths I could take with the degree I will soon be earning, and I have been thinking of career paths I could take that keeps me in school, and putting off real life, for a few more years. But at the end of the day, I still have absolutely no idea.
What I have come to realize is nobody really has any idea what they are doing, or what they want to do. After having just about every adult that I encounter asks what I am going to do after graduation, and having to admit that I'm not sure, a shocking amount respond saying, "I don't know either". These are adults who are happily in careers, still admitting that they don't know what comes next for them.
I have no doubt that I will figure something out, and what I choose isn't a life sentence, you can choose a career and be completely happy in it for 5 years, but get sick of it and want to do something else, and that is completely okay and even normal.
You don't have to think of 50 different career paths that will keep you in school and put a hold on entering the real world. And you don't have to freak out about the future. You will eventually find something you love to do, if finding it takes some time that is okay, not everybody knows what they want to do right off the bat. Don't let the "senior year crisis" get you down, and ruin the fun of your senior year, enjoy it, and try not to stress too much about the future.
