As a current junior in college, I find myself faced with the inevitable question of what I want to do with my life. At every family gathering I attend and at every academic advising meeting I sit through, the question remains the same.
While I know it is a normal, reasonable question to be asked at this stage of my life, I still find myself feeling overwhelmed whenever I’m confronted with it. One of the most daunting parts of my experience with this question is that it is not only being asked by adult figures in my life, but by my friends and peers my age.
Let me just start out by stating this plain and simple: It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. This remains true no matter what age you are, or what stage of life you're in.
Many people begin college around age 18 and are asked to pick a major, which is then supposed to determine what career path you’d like to take in your life. But this has always seemed ridiculous to me. How are you supposed to know, fresh out of high school, what kind of career you want to have throughout your life?
I know that for many people, this decision might not be difficult if you have something in your life that you’re passionate about, but some of us aren’t that lucky.
A number of my peers have known what they wanted to do for a long time, whether they want to be a nurse, psychologist, musician, physical therapist, etc. And while I used to feel envious of these people, I’ve recently learned to embrace my uncertainty.
According to a statistic from “The Mentor,” an academic advising journal from Penn State University published in 2013, approximately 75 percent of students change their major at least one time before they graduate.
This number did not surprise me, considering picking a major at such a young age is such an intimidating task. Your first year of college changes you so much as a person, and it is hard to determine what kind of career you want to have before you even know who you are.
So embrace the journey. Embrace the uncertainty, the indecisiveness, the upset and the joy.
I came across a special quote from an author named Barbara Hall that I’d like to share. She writes, “The path to our destination is not always a straight one. We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back. Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on. Maybe what matters is that we embark.”
Even if you don’t know what you want to do with your life, remember that it is okay to feel that way. What matters, like Hall suggests, is that you are embarking.
I don’t mean to discourage anyone who knows what they do want to do, because that is truly a blessing. Rather, I want to encourage those who don’t know what they want to do to be comfortable with their journey. Don’t give up on finding your passions, and don’t be too hard on yourself if an answer doesn’t immediately come your way.
Remember this: It’s okay if you don’t know what you want to do. You are not alone. Whether you’re 18, 45, 64, or 80, this remains true. I encourage you to embrace your uncertainty and to find the beauty in your embark.
