"What are you doing after college?" "Are you sure that major will get you a career?" "How many internships have you had?"
If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me that, I could pay off my college tuition. But seriously, what is it about this small talk? Do people want us to have a mid-life crisis before we're even past the beginning of our lives? Despite how many times you had these questions asked (and there will be much more to come), I'm here to tell you that it's ok if you don't have life figured out, and in fact you shouldn't.
The truth is no one has life figured out. And no one ever will. You can control aspects of your life so you can live how you want to, but life will always throw something our way we're never expecting. But that's what makes life amazing. The best part about life is that it's the adventure that you'll never stop having.
In college, we're prepping for our futures. We're told everything we do is in preparation for what lies ahead, whether its career paths, social circles, or discovering your passions. And in a lot of ways, they're completely right. But what's not right is the amount of stress put on our shoulders for us to have it all correct by the age of 21. Some of us stress so much about what's going wrong that we don't clearly see what's going so right for us. So what if you failed biology? You might have hated that career if you stuck with it. So what if you feel like you're missing out by not going out often? You saved yourself a lot of hangovers (and money). And so what if you do go out often? You may not be able to later so seize it now while you can. The point is, stop overthinking everything and just live the authentic life you want to live, and you can take it at whatever pace you like.
Some of us love surprises, some of us hate surprises. But when someone tells you a surprise they've been keeping secret for you, don't you feel a twinge of disappointment? Life shouldn't be that way. And life has surprises in store that we'll never hope to find out until they happen. It will be frustrating and hard many times, but we'll be so happy we stuck with it when those surprises pay off.
Life isn't a race, and it isn't a ladder either. As Sheryl Sandberg said, it's a jungle gym. You don't go straight to the stop nor do you have to work your way up in one area if you don't enjoy it. You're free to jump around, and it may land you lower than you thought at times, but can take you higher than you ever dreamed possible. So get out there, do what makes you passionate, and never worry about figuring life out, because in the words of "Forrest Gump" "Life is like a box of chocolates." So be sure to taste every single one!
