My first year at college has come and gone, and I have experienced life in ways I would never have imagined. When I moved into college, I thought I was on a set path to achieve what I wanted in life. Now, my second week into summer, I realize I was naive in thinking I knew what I wanted.

Ultimately in life, I know that I want to have a successful career, a happy marriage, and children. I want to own my own home, my own vehicles, and live a happy life. All anyone wants in life is to be happy, right? I thought that I was on the right path towards my end goals when I went into college; I had a great relationship, I knew what career I wanted and what I had to do to get there, I had a job to help pay my expenses, and I scraped by without having to take out college loans. Everything was all set and I was on a good path.

And then I began my first year of college.

Needless to say, I encountered the real world and had to face new, unforeseen obstacles. My family moved, my relationship had many trials, I faced countless stressful situations, and I overloaded myself down with work, classes, and extracurricular activities. The further into the year I got, the more I realized I didn't know what I wanted. The more obstacles and trials thrown my way, the further I deterred from my original path.

Going into college, I didn't think that I needed to have all of the cliché, classic college experiences. I figured that I knew what I wanted and where I was going, so I didn't need those things to help me out. My second semester was a huge smack in my face when I realized just how wrong I was. There is a reason college is considered the time for exploration and also the best time of your life. We need those clichés to help figure out who we are, and from there we figure out what we want.

The person I am today is someone I never thought I would be: confused. I don't know what I want. Long term, it's easy to set a goal and hopefully you can use each day to work towards that. But short term, I'm lost. Everything that I thought I wanted right now, I've changed my mind. I'm not the person that I wanted to be, and I'm glad. Right now, I am questioning life, my choices, who I am, what type of person I want to be, what I want to do. I'm questioning everything, and I don't have any answers to anything. I'm okay with it and I've accepted it because I know that I'm not the only one. I know I'm not the first person to doubt my life, and I know I won't be the last. And for those of you who are in the same boat as me (which is one without a paddle and a compass), I give this advice:

Sometimes you have to ask yourself:

And if you don't have an answer for that, it's okay. Nobody knows how many days they have left on Earth, so take every day as one day at a time. It may take you weeks or months or even years to answer the question. But until you can answer that question, do what you want. That sounds dumb, especially if you don't know what you want, but just do whatever you think will make you happy right then. Obviously, there could be consequences, but the chances are that the experiences will be well worth the consequences. Enjoy the time being lost and confused, because hopefully something is going to step into your life and show you the direction to the life you want. This is the only life we get, so enjoy it and make it count.