Growing up, my future was always changing. I was never one of those kids who knew from an early age their life path, that they wanted to be a doctor and followed through with that through college. No, I was the kid who constantly dabbled with different ideas of careers. First it was a ballerina as a lot of five year olds in dance class do. Then it was a fashion designer with my little patterns and sketch books. Then a lawyer, teacher, something with film. When I got to high school I realized that I really didn’t know what I really wanted. I liked so many different things, yet hated doing the same thing day in day out. I was struggling a bit with what path I actually was going to follow.
My sophomore year of high school I began researching different career choices. I always loved Disney, what about designing rides? Well, that’s engineering and I don’t like math that much. Architecture? Nope, still too much math. Then after doing a career quiz online I came across advertising and public relations. I had never put any thought into communications, but it actually seemed fascinating to me. It seemed fun, exciting, invigorating. I knew this was my path.
Now as a junior in college I realize how perfect this path actually is for me. I’m finishing up my first internship and about to start my second. I wake up every day I have to work and am ecstatic for what the day will hold. That is the beauty of following you passion.
The sad thing in today’s society is that we put far too much of an emphasis on money equating success. And sure if you make a lot of money you probably are pretty successful in whatever field you’re in, at least financially. But then what is success?
Success is not just about money, it’s about happiness.
It’s not easy to figure out what you want to do with your life. It’s not meant to be. It’s supposed to be hard, that’s life. But in trying to find what’s next for you, you learn a lot about yourself. You uncover what your strengths are, what ignites a fire within you, what makes you want to wake up in the morning. Even more importantly it helps you find your weaknesses.
It’s your weaknesses that help your grow. If you know what you struggle with you can know what things you can work on. And I don’t mean weaknesses like math or science skills. I mean your personal attributes. Like organization, people skills, time management, the things that you actually need in day-to-day life.
A huge part of feeling confident in your future is feeling confident with yourself. And you can’t do that if you aren’t ok. Something that I’ve really found is the times when I don’t take care of myself and put my wellbeing first are the times when I’m not successful, when I struggle with my relationships and my work. We need to focus on our mental health and our well-beings, or else you won’t have an effective mindset to stay on track and motivated.
I know that by waking up every day being excited to go to work I am doing to the right path. Now there definitely have been days when I questioned this path, questioned my major and future job choice. But then I take a step back, and think about what I love to do. And I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.
There’s something truly special when you feel happy with where you are in life. In my twenty short years, I’ve had many ups and downs, each of them shaping me and guiding my along. I wouldn’t be where I am without them, they are a part of me, a part of the person who I’ve become. I can honestly say that I’m so incredibly happy with the path that I’m on and the person I am becoming. With less than two years until graduation I am so excited for what is in store for me, on top of the obvious nerves of course!
Being happy with yourself and your accomplishments, being hopeful and giddy for the future; it’s the best thing ever. It is true success.