As I grow into my 20's, I have realized that everyone's favorite question to ask is "So, what are you going to do with that *insert major*?". For many 20-something-year-olds, this is their least favorite question to hear. Lately, I've heard this question far, far, far more than I would like to. From this, I've also realized that there really is no self help forum for other confused college students. As much as I would like to just ask Magic eight ball of the future, or have a fortune teller decide my fate for me, I've realized that this part is all up to me. That, to me, is the scariest part.
This summer, I managed to (luckily) get a job doing office work for the preschool I occasionally teach camps at. I say luckily because my boss is my best friend's mom, and she allows me to listen to music and watch videos to help the time go by a little faster as I cut paper and make labels. This week, I fortunately stumbled upon the Ted Talk video portion of Spotify. (I am now obsessed with Ted Talks). I browsed Ted Talks with topics that ranged from addiction to procrastination, but, one specifically stood out to me. The title was simple and quite attention grabbing to a career-clueless college student like myself, "Why some of us don't have one true calling". In this Ted Talk, Emilie Wapnick eloquently talks about an era of people known as what she likes to call "multipotentialites". She describes multipotentialites as people like herself; people who ironically struggle from having too many interests, as they can never narrow down on a specific career path. In #relatable fashion, Emilie uses examples such as scientists who are also violin makers, and other professionals who managed to fuse all of their talents and interests into their life. Needless to say, I was hooked. For the entire 12 minutes and 26 seconds, every word Emilie said motivated me while I typed out my labels. Like any good best friend or personal trainer, Emilie's talk made me feel supported, motivated, challenged, and also a little scared.
Until I got to college, I was a chronic "I know exactly what I'm going to do with my life"-er, or as Wapnick describes it, a "specialist". However, like most other's, my chronic "I know exactly what I'm going to do with my life" quickly changed to a blurred "oh my god what am I going to do with my life". So often, we are strongly encouraged and praised for narrowing our view to one clear career path. Those who have many ideas and interests are often plagued as being impractical and wishy-washy. There should be more encouragement for having a "multipotentialite" mindset, as our society so desperately needs a creative and adaptable millennial generation in the workforce.
Moral of the story: it's okay to be a specialist, a multipotentialite, or completely confused. Everyone finds there way somehow.
