All of our lives, each and every one of us have been asked the same question. For some of us, it changed every time someone asked, and for some of us, our response was always the same.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

I really like to think about this question, even now at 19 years old. I like to think about being asked this question as a child, and I can tell you each of the responses I had throughout the years. I love to ask my niece this question because, it allows me to see inside her little brain for a moment. I still enjoy being asked this question so that I can tell others about my life plan. But sometimes, this question haunts me, which is silly because it is a question for children.

Let’s just be real for a second. College is hard. Three out of the five days that I go to class, I sit there and think to myself, “There is no way that I am smart enough to be a biology major. There is no way that I’m smart enough to be a doctor.” That scares me because that is my answer to the question.

What do I want to be when I grow up?A doctor. But in this moment, where I can’t remember how to find the answer to a chemistry problem on an exam, I don’t think there is a way for me to be what I want when I grow up, because it seems so far off in the future. It’s hard to keep sight of my goal when I struggle with the easy stuff every day, and there are some days when I almost lose all of my drive completely. Being honest, there are days when my mind tells me, “You aren’t going to make it through this.”

Something had to change when I started thinking so negatively--I had to come up with a way to shut it down. Instead of asking myself what I want to be in the far off future every day, I altered my question. When I put my feet on the ground every morning, I have started to ask myself, “What do I want to be today?”

Sometimes we get so caught up in focusing on the future that we forget to live life day by day. We don’t see today as something new and exciting, we see it as something that is separating us from tomorrow. We spend our lives waiting for tomorrow, but when we do that, we miss out on so much. Tomorrow isn’t going to be any different than today, so why not enjoy today and see it as a new adventure?

This simple change to the question that I have answered hundreds of times is what gets me through, because it gives me the chance to have a new answer each day. It gives me the chance to see life from a different, short term angle.

Today, I want to be happy.

Today, I want to be productive.

Today, I want to be adventurous.

Today, I want to be driven.

Today, I want to be successful.

Sure, I always want to be these things, but telling myself these things every morning helps me take life step-by-step. The fact that I have seven years of school left isn’t so overwhelming anymore. College isn’t so overbearing. I appreciate every day a little more.

My trick isn’t foolproof. There are days when no matter what I tell myself, I don’t feel like I can make it through. But it has turned things around for me. Now, I feel like I am actually living out the days between here and being a grown up. I’m not caught in that limbo where my thoughts are consumed by school and my future. It helps me feel on top of things, and it helps me stay positive. If I can conquer today, I can conquer tomorrow. If I can conquer tomorrow, I can conquer every single day after that until the day where I have reached my far-off goal.

I encourage you to try this out. When you wake up tomorrow, tell yourself exactly what you want to be, because someday, you’ll be “grown up.” You’ll reach your goal. And if you spent the whole time between now and then only focusing on the end, you’re going to look back and realize you should’ve let yourself live a little all along.