"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
The age old question everyone has been asked since we've been able to form sentences.
When we were little kids, a lot of us would give answers like "a princess," "an astronaut," "a pop star," "a police officer," or maybe even "a dog." As we got older, our answers started to mature and become more realistic—teacher, doctor, lawyer, psychologist, social worker, writer, actor—the list goes on.
Eventually, one of our more realistic answers is expected to become a choice, and with that choice, a lot of us feel the need to live up to that choice and follow through on our word. The thing that we usually aren't told, though, is that our decision of what we want to be in the future isn't set in stone.
I just started my sophomore year of college, and at my university we are typically expected to declare our major at the end of our second year. That means we have roughly two years to declare what it is we believe we want to do in the future, for the rest of our lives—and that's f***ing scary.
I happen to be in the minority of my friends—I went into college with my major undeclared. While I'm pretty sure I want to pursue a career path that involves some form of writing, I still wanted to keep my options open. I'm only 19—I change my mind about things almost hourly and it takes me about 20 minutes to figure out what I want to wear for the day (even though I know I'll just end up wearing an oversized t-shirt and leggings)—so I don't think I'm exactly fit to make a final decision on what I think I'd like to do for the rest of my life quite yet.
I even had a professor my first year of college who validated my not being sure of what I want to be/do in the future. He asked my class how many of us had declared our majors, and I believe there were only about three of us in this class of 25-30 people that did not raise our hand. He went on to tell us that, while it's great so many people have decided on what it is they would like to do in the future, he personally believes it's kind of ridiculous for us to declare our major until we've really explored college and all of the different areas of study we have to choose from, as well as figure out who we are with little to no real-life exposure, as most of us were also just living mostly independently for the first time in our young lives.
Just because I'm legally an adult now does not, by any means, make me suddenly know exactly who I am as a person and what I would like to do with my life.
Something that a lot of people won't tell you is that even after college and they are working in a job that falls under what they majored in, once they are working that job, they find they really aren't happy with their choice like they thought they would be, and soon discover what it is that they are truly passionate about.
I know countless people who have majored in one thing, and then post-college decided to do something completely different. I even know people who didn't even go into a job that falls under their major—my own dad included. He majored in psychology, but went on to work for a large consulting company. After working as a consultant for many years, he finally said enough is enough and decided to do what he thought he would all along—be a clinical psychologist. So when I was in middle school, he went back to college and got re-certified in clinical psychology, and is now doing what he felt he should've been doing all along. The supposed "lifetime commitment" you make during college, and even post-college, can be changed at any point in your life. It might not be ideal, but if it gets you to where you need to be in order to live the best life you possibly can, then by all means do it.
No matter what, you're going to have to choose a major—that's just what college is for. It's important to know, though, that your degree does not define your future. You might know who you are and what you want to be at a young age, and that's great. If you don't though, then that's great too—you shouldn't have to figure out something so significant so rapidly. Maybe you won't truly discover yourself and your passion until later in life, and that's OK, because it's never too late to exit one path and continue on a completely different one.
Don't drive yourself insane trying to figure out who you are, and don't feel pressured to definitively declare your future at such a young age. Life is short, but it's also important that you make the most of it and spend it being happy and doing what you truly want to do. Don't get caught up in the superficiality that comes with being young, and do not let anyone tell you that your choices are wrong, foolish, or silly. You're the only person that knows you best, and only you need to know who you are and what you're supposed to be doing with your life. It might take a lot of trial and error, but you'll get to your destination eventually, and you'll know when you've reached it.
