"So... What do you want to be when you grow up?"
We've all been asked this question multiple times, I'm sure. For some people, it's an easy answer. But for others of us, it's the most dreaded question in the world, sending us into a state of jumbled uncertainty and confusion whenever we hear it. It shouldn't be this way, though. Our society and modern culture has caused us to become single-minded about our futures. We go through grades 1-12, then go to college, then either go to graduate school or start the job we've been preparing for all these years. That's what we've been told is what to do. It's become expected that by the time we turn 21 years old, we know what we want to be doing 10 years down the road: what career we want to have, where we want to be living, what we want to be doing with our lives. But why has this become the so-called norm? Who decided it was okay to put such heavy expectations on us? As I've said in an earlier article, it's okay to not know what job you hope to have in the future. Perfectly okay.
That doesn't mean you are any less than your colleagues who do know what specific career they wish to pursue. You still know what you want to be.
I want to be a million things. I want to be a contributing adult in our society. I want to be someone who makes a positive impact on my community. I want to be confident and well-respected by others. I want to be mature and intelligent. I want to be determined and self-motivated. I want to be an independent individual. I want to be strong and healthy. I want to be loving and caring. I want to be a good friend and an amazing wife. I want to be as great of a mother as my mom is. I want to be happy. I want to be myself. I want to be an improved version of myself now. I want to be all these and more. I want to be so many things. I'm not sure what career path I'll choose, and sometimes that terrifies me. But I do know what I want to be. And you do too.
So don't let the question bother you next time. If you know exactly what you want to do after you graduate, congratulations. That's awesome, and I wish you all the luck. But if you don't, there's no need to feel lost, clueless, or depressed. You may not know what job you want, but you know so many other positive, inspiring answers.
