Often times I find myself overwhelmed about the future — my future, to be exact. It’s hard for me to focus on the present when the only thing I can think about is what’s next. When I’m finished with this task, what’s my next task? After I go here, where do I go after that? A lot of the time, I feel like I’m consumed by my racing thoughts about my future. I’m always thinking two steps ahead and focused on what’s to come and sometimes that’s not really a good thing.
I stress and overanalyze situations that haven’t even occurred yet. It was just last night, actually, that a friend and I were talking and I told her how I just wanted to fast forward and having everything figured out. I wanted to be done with school, have my career and family started, and just be where I’m supposed to be (wherever that may be.) I told her that I was scared because the plan I had once created has already been revised countless times.
My original plan was to be done with college in four years. I would have my sh*t together. I would be saving money to get my own place. I would have been done traveling back and forth from school and my hometown. I would be done working a summer job that has nothing to do with my career choice. The next moves I made would have all been focused on my career path. However, over the past few years I’ve learned that plans change. Nothing is ever set in stone and for now, I’m trying to be okay with that.
During the conversation with my friend, I explained to her that I have absolutely no idea what I want to do after college and I’m panicking. Yes, I have one more year to figure it out but thinking about that, one year ISN’T that much time. I couldn’t stress to her enough that one of my biggest fears is letting my parents down and I feel like that’s the path I’m headed down. Instead of giving me the lecture that I’ve had with numerous friends and family members, she shared a video with me that surprisingly changed my entire perspective.
The 4 minute and 40 second video, which was shared on Facebook by a man named Gary Vaynerchuk, talks about why it’s perfectly okay to have no idea what you’re doing with your life after college. He talks about why the years after you graduate are your years to be extreme risk takers career-wise. He calls it the five year window, and it actually makes perfect sense. Before I watched the video, I was honestly in panic mode. After watching it a few more times, I felt at ease. I realized that it’s not the end of the world if I’m feeling lost about what I want to do or where I want to be after college. I realize now that I have the time to figure things out. I have the capability to take risks when I graduate. The next five to six years are my window. This is the time for me to explore who I am and who I want to be for the rest of my life. Thanks to my friend and to this video, I now know that everything is going to work out the way that it’s supposed to. I'm allowed to be worried and stressed, but I shouldn't let those feelings consume me anymore. I'm allowed to make mistakes and to take risks.
I am allowed to not know what’s next.
