The Scenario
Imagine this: It's Christmas Break and you are fresh out of Fall semester, with weeks to decompress and plenty of time-finally-to figure yourself and your goals out. Which is definitely easier said than done, but hey, it's gotta happen at some point. As you sit around the dinner table on Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Festivus, whatever floats your boat, your family shoots questions a million miles a minute about your major, your love life or lack thereof, and your big plans for the future. And if you're anything like me, you don't really have one of those yet.
A plan, that is. And your family might not understand that, and they probably won't understand your major if it's not Pre-Med or engineering, and that's okay. They most likely won't be on board with you buying a ticket to Bali tomorrow like you really want to, in order to add some "worldly perspective" to your life. Didn't work for me, might not work for you either. And that's okay. It's really going to be okay. And here's why.
The Dealio
Creating a life plan is something that is necessary so you can point your sails in the right direction rather than casting a net out to who-knows-where and just hoping it'll land in the right place. Which, to be honest, is exactly what I have been doing throughout the duration of my college career, and still am doing because figuring out what to do for the rest of your life is hard and difficult work, people! Family, I am looking at you! And that's okay; but some people over the holidays may not understand your vague life outline and your current goals, and to be fair, the outline of my own plan is pretty blurry to me too, so I wouldn't expect them to see it better than me anyway.
If you are one of the lucky ones that has a solid plan, that's great! Run with it and turn it into a passion that you can't wait to talk about if someone asks you about it at dinner. When we rode home from my Grandma's house on Christmas, my dad was going to ask a family member that couldn't make it to dinner about something he wanted to know about in his line of work, construction, in order to learn more about building a new house. My mom said from the passenger seat, "I'm sure he's glad he couldn't make it today so he didn't have to talk about his job while trying to relax and celebrate". Which is true for many people, sadly.
They'd rather forget they have a job and never think about it until they absolutely have to. And that's okay, but I personally am looking forward to the day I can find myself a future that I will be over-the-moon excited to tell people about. I want to seek people out to listen to me ramble about how much I love my career because I am just that dang passionate about it. And sure, I haven't figured out what that career will be, but that's okay.
We're all in this crazy, wild ride together, whether you know what you want to do or not. Because the truth of the matter is, no one knows what the future holds. None of us do, even the sure-fire future lawyers and doctors. Who knows what will become of the world in fifteen years? No one does, and that's the beauty of the future. It's ours to create. So let's get creative and design one we all are excited to live in.