I’ve grown to have a serious dislike for the question "What’re you going to do after college?” Like, no one asks you, “What’re you going to do after you get married?” or, “What’re you going to do after the first four years of your current job?” It’s just so damn forced and generic. To me, this question is basically a formality. It’s the go-to question for people who don’t actually know you, like your great-uncle’s second cousin. And guess what, it’s more than OK to not have a solid answer for this irritating question. (It's also OK to want to remove the person who has asked you this question from your presence immediately.)
If there’s anything I’ve learned from kinda starting to get my shit together, it’s that it comes from a lot failed paths. Also, it can only be found by chasing something that actually inspires you, not what you've decided will yield the greatest financial reward.
I’m not saying that your passion is going to wander to you on a crowded street and scream “YOU FOUND ME!” without any direction on your part, but it also isn’t going jump at you from the center of a textbook, or the incessant lecture from your Psychology professor.
It’s OK to be unsure. It’s OK to be awakened by something new everyday. This world has so much to offer. It has so much to fail at and learn from. So what if you have no idea what’s going to bring stability or security.
We’re honestly too young to base such a huge decision on what’s going to have the best 401k or the best starting salary. Sure, all that stuff is obviously ideal because, hello, student loans are a real thing.
But, the question “What’re you going to do after college?” is like the burnt-out, lifeless dreary version of “What do you want to be when you grow up?” What happened to that open opportunity to seek wonder? Why does that dissipate as we age? Like, seriously, who stopped believing that I’m going to an astronaut and how do I prove them wrong?
College has enough pressures. Exams, sucky professors, crappy food, all-nighters, and workloads so hefty it can be crippling at times. But nothing is as heavy as the thought of the “real world,” especially when people make it seem like you need a detailed map and a survival kit to make it there.
What am I going to do after college?
I’m going to continue to learn from everything around me. I’m going to continue to mess up, a lot. I'm going to fail, but I'm going to be resilient in my quest to succeed (and to eat food that wasn't previously frozen). I’m going to continue to be steadfast and go whole-heartedly in the direction of everything that makes me feel alive. And I’m going to stick my middle finger directly into the face of the next person that asks me that question (maybe not literally, because that's not very professional, but in my mind, for sure).
