I started off my career working in retail, and I currently work in hospitality. Through these experiences, I have gained confidence in speaking with others. Having the ability to start a conversation and lead an insightful discussion is a great skill to have, and it’s something that a lot of people have lost the ability to do. I am great at talking and conversing with people, except when it comes to dealing with people my age, particularly high school and college students.

It’s not that I don’t like talking to college students, because I do, it’s just that I am not able to relate to most people my age. Outside of my close friends, it’s tough for me to really be myself with people my age. I don’t know how to make people my age laugh, because a lot of what college students think is funny, I just don’t get. I’ll hear about that lit party last night or how drunk their best friend was and I can’t relate to any of that.

I even struggle to find common interests with college students. My interests are stocks, tennis, politics, real estate and talking about life. So many other kids that I come across don’t have any interest in all that. I have met very few college students who have mutual interests with me, so when I do find someone who doesn’t mind just talking about life, I tend to keep them pretty close.

My focus is entirely on my future, which can be a good and a bad thing. I spend a lot of my time and effort building up the foundation that I hope to build my life and career on. Like so many other college students, I want a good job, a family and to be successful. I’m one who believes that in order to do any of that, you need to build up your knowledge, experience and credibility. You don’t do that by going out and getting wasted or sitting at home all day, you do it by working hard and impressing the right people.

I have always tried to go down a different road than some of my peers. Because of this, I have fallen out of touch with my generation. I take no issue with college students who do things differently than I do; some of them will probably go on to be very successful. I just have my own way of doing things, and I intend on sticking to my plan.

So to all of my wonderful college peers out there, I’m on this journey with you. I will always be rooting for you, but I’ll probably never understand you.