I'm within my second year of college right now. I will willingly admit that the majority of my first two semesters were spent exploring a lot of different classes and organizations. From philosophy, theater, music, and science, to get rid of gen-ed requirements I took about every type of class you can think of. Now, while I'm settling into my biology major with the intent of becoming a doctor, there's still a large amount of where my career could go. In college, a lot of opportunities come your way, and some of them may take you very far, some may go nowhere at all.

However, each of these opportunities have the capacity to take your college career in a path you've never contemplated. I could try to plan my entire life ahead, however, after entertaining the notion of a perfectly planned out future, I find it extremely unrealistic considering how many opportunities will come my way these next three years. But throughout all the uncertainty, there are life philosophies and idealizations that I do know I want to hold dear to me for future years. So here's what I know for certain I want to be when I grow up.

I want to be a student for life. I want my life to be filled with an endless amount of personal growth. I know that along with my journey to a successful career, I will make some terrible mistakes. There will be times I fall, but I want to be able to find comfort and salvation in my mistakes and know that they were inevitably vital to my personal growth. Yeah, the failures I endure will feel bad at first, but I don’t want to end up regretting taking chances and accepting the opportunities I received, regardless of if they failed or not.

I'll be honest, I saw a lot of people deter themselves from going to medical school because of the seemingly endless amount of school it requires. However, it was that very fact that tantalized me and drew me to pre-med in the first place: The notion of spending my entire life learning new things in my career, essentially becoming a student for life. This motif is incredibly humbling to me as well because it essentially means that we must accept that no matter how successful we become, there will always be room to grow and learn. And I hope the motif of personal growth yields strong to me in my later years.

I want to be good to my friends and family. I want to know that I've done everything possible to make my friends and family happy. No matter how much I divulge myself into my career (as my career choice, no matter what it ends up being will be time-consuming), there will always be friends and family I rely on, and who rely on me as well.

I will make an endless amount of new connections, and a lot of these connections will end up broken as well. And no matter how much-broken friendships and relationships hurt, I want to know that I did everything in my power to not hurt the ones dear to me intentionally.

I want to be a good communicator and listener to the ones I love. I want to be empathetic to them, because even though difficult situations, a basic understanding of the other person's perspective can prove vital in salvaging broken relationships. I want to know that I was not completely selfish with my time. I want to give back to my friends and family. I always want to be an ear to them, even if being in their physical presence proves difficult or impossible.

I want to be good to myself. I want to know that in the future, I took care of my mental health and my mind. I grew up very timid and anxious, and it wasn’t until I got into college that I realized how detrimental not acknowledging or working on my mental health was. Not taking care of my anxiety means I spend more time divulged in a plethora of fears in my mind than actually being productive.

Being anxious meant that no matter what I did, It never seemed like enough. Not taking care of my anxiety meant not challenging myself because of my inherent fear of failure. But when I grow up, I want to prove to myself that I am enough and that I can work on this issue without it being a detriment to my success.

All in all, no matter where life takes me, these are the values I want to grow up embracing. As long as I am good to myself and other people, I will be perfectly content with where I am in life and in my career regardless of where life ends up taking me. I've got a long journey filled with a plethora of growth ahead, and I can't wait!