I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. At the current moment, I'm a double major in geography and applied computing. I take classes geared towards these subjects and I have no inclination to pursue either of these things.
Let's back up a little. About two months ago, I had a little bit of an identity crisis. I'm talking the whole nine yards. I started selling my clothes, spent a lot of time reading blogs about reinvention, and even made my own blog, albeit not a very good one. During this period of my life, I spent a lot of time laying in bed, crying and watching Netflix.
I have no idea what I'm doing.
People come into college knowing what they've wanted to do since they were 13. And I'm sure those people's lives are just fine. But not everyone can know what they want to do. My current "career plan" is looking on the internet for interesting jobs and making a snap decision to do it.
Throughout this frustrating journey, it's become pretty clear that it is totally OK for me to not know what I'm doing, even if it doesn't always feel that way, and for several reasons.
First of all, everybody is different. As cliched as that sounds, it's so unbelievably true. If you constantly compare yourself with other people you go to school with, you're not only going to find yourself even more lost than before, but also extremely unhappy. And who knows, maybe those people who seem to have their lives together are feigning it.
Second, our tastes are constantly changing. Three years ago, I wanted to be a physical therapist. Fast forward one year and several trips to a physical therapist for a bruised meniscus, and I realized I didn't want to touch people for a living. Without coming to this conclusion, I would be studying pre-PT at some other university, slowly coming to terms with the fact that my life is going to be miserable, massaging people and giving instructions all day everyday.
Third and finally, change is inevitable. Sometimes, we can't control the situations that affect us. Whether it be the lack of financial aid at your dream university or a rejection letter, we have to change ourselves around these situations. And while it can feel like a deep disappointment, you can always make the best out of a situation and you might end up a lot happier in the end anyway.
Despite all of this, it can still feel pretty bad. But if you work hard, everything will work out the way it should.
After all, Julia Child worked as a WWII spy until she was 36 and took a cooking class.
