“So where do you see yourself in five years?”
Ah, the question dreaded by all college students. When presented with this inquiry, I usually fumble together some awkward response that will please my receiving audience. Relatives love to hear that you hope to be married, college professors want you to be applying to grad school, and peers expect you will be backpacking through Europe with some hunk named Ricardo. While all of these answers sound ideal, they are not promised.
During my experience in college, so far, I have met many an eager dreamer with a detailed timeline for their future. Now, don’t get me wrong, goals are great. They keep us driven and give our life purpose. However, I think there is a monumental difference between motivational goals and those that cripple us. If we live life with a clear picture in our heads of how our futures are supposed to end up, we will be sorely disappointed by every obstacle. I have decided to accept that uncertainty is the only thing we can be certain of in life. This philosophy prepares me for the good times as well as the bad. While I love fantasizing about the perfect wedding, the perfect house, and the perfect job (as most people do), I must remind myself that I can’t be hurt if it takes me more than X amount of years to get there. It is also important to realize that some of those details might change along the way.
When I was little, I wanted to be a pop star. Lizzie McGuire was my idol, and I thought Hollywood was the ultimate goal. Granted, I was a delusional preteen with knobby knees and little to no theatrical talents, but I was let down every time my dream seemed more and more out of reach. While it might seem like I was giving up on a rather unrealistic dream, I actually just learned how to reassess what I wanted out of life. My sweet and open-minded parents encouraged new hobbies to soothe my discouraged, teenybopper soul, and I was able to discover entirely new passions I had never before considered.
Society places lots of pressure on young people to define themselves right away. From the time we start kindergarten, we are asked what we want to be when we grow up. This creates aspiration, which is great, but it can also be damaging. Our educational systems make us feel that we need to label ourselves immediately so as to make it easier to find where we belong in social situations and in the world. The kid that shows scientific interests at seven years of age is labeled a genius and is placed on a one-way track to med school where his possible artistic abilities will never be explored. This is the best way to guarantee his success, right? Well, I thumb my nose at that notion. As young people, we deserve a time of discovery where we try and fail at a million things. We have to enjoy this time before real life slaps us in the face with mortgage payments and other adult responsibilities that crush the human spirit.
The point is, I don’t know where I will be in five years. Right now, I love my friends and I love my major, but I don’t know if either of these things will be the same down the road. Nobody does. People and interests change and that is okay. All I know is that I plan on completing school and having a lot of fun doing it. I will figure out the rest as it comes along.
