What do you want to do? Ugh, that dreaded question to all who haven't the slightest idea what their future holds. For me, this question induces the three-word answer: I don't know.
As a sophomore biology major, I seem to be the only one who doesn't know what they want to do. In classes, I am surrounded by people who want to become physician assistants, dentists, doctors, nurses... and then there's me. One day I want to study nutrition, the next, I have a sinking feeling that being a nutritionist isn't what I want to do. Other days, I think that ecology and sustainability are just the most fascinating things.
But soon that sinking, lost feeling returns. I don't know. Deciding your future is not just a flip-of-the-coin kind of decision, it is something that you will have to live with. While applying for summer internships, I've seen a glimpse of what I will be doing in two years: applying for graduate schools, jobs, and moving on beyond undergraduate classes and dorm life. But what will I be moving on to?
What a loaded question. On one hand, I feel like the world is at my fingertips. I feel like I have infinite options of what I can do with my degree. I can teach at a high school or college level. I can become a doctor, nurse, or PA. I can conduct research and spend my days in a lab, whether I am searching for a cure for cancer or investigating crime scene DNA. Somedays, I feel like there is nothing that I can't do. I feel powerful, like when you are asked, "What you want to be when you grow up?," in first grade. A doctor, astronaut, nurse, mom, teacher, police woman? Kids have no feeling of limitation to what their future holds.
The best advice I've gotten was from a professor I am currently taking a class with. He asked, "What are you planning on doing with a biology degree?" When I said I don't know, he then continued on to ask what things interested me. At this point, I'm pretty sure I continued on a 10-minute monologue explaining each possible career I had considered, only to explain that they didn't really interest me. After I was finished, he said I hadn't answered his question asking what interested me.
He explained to me that the job market and careers are constantly changing, and that if I can't find a career that suits me, then I will make one. After leaving, I felt relief that eventually I will find something that I love. I will continue on, not by picking a career, but by picking things that I am interested in and forging my way until I am content.
Until that time comes, I'll just keep going day by day, knowing that I will find my passion.
