How many times have you struggled with figuring out what you want? I'm not talking about trying to figure out what's for dinner. I'm talking about trying to figure out what exactly you want to get out of this life, out of relationships, out of your personal growth. I've been there. Actually, I spend a lot of time there. I'm only 22 so cut me a break. But I never realized how fortunate I am to be able to be decisive while still indecisive. In my years of college, I've changed my major five to six times before I committed to studying broad Communications. It's what I felt truly passionate about.
My background involves a lot of relationship and community building, innovation, creativity and cultivating new opportunities. Naturally, I thought getting a B.A. in Communications would be a perfect fit. I knew all my life that I hated math, but I loved writing and meeting new people and trying new things and I appreciated all mediums of art (and I still do). But as I'm approaching graduation, I've found it more pressing than I ever expected to start a career I could potentially love.
A couple of months ago I pretty much settled into the idea of working in the public relations industry which is a subset career in the broad spectrum of communications. I was very excited about it. It seemed like the perfect way to fulfill my desire to continue building relationships. So, I took a "Writing for Public Relations" course and slowly learned I find the work to be extremely boring and tedious. So, I googled "careers that involve relationship building" and everything sounded vanilla. The only thing that seemed pretty interesting to me was Real Estate. I know there are a million other options I could look into but real estate just felt right.
A week or two later magic came over me and I knew that my career interest was starting to transform from beginning a career in communications and public relations to paving a path for myself in real estate. In a matter of two weeks, I've dived so deep into this. At this point, I'm looking into starting the road of becoming a real estate agent at the ripe age of 22.
Before I came to this conclusion, I created a manifestation board. This DIY project is a visual representation of all the things you absolutely want to achieve in life. It can be something tangible or something more. The more you look at it the more your subconscious will start to process it and bring to fruition. The more I looked at it the more I started to wonder, "How can I achieve all these things? What passion will lead me to success? How can I start now? What will allow me to feel accomplished in the future aside from reaching these goals? What can I do??" Then I realized that the core of my being is to just be a boss babe.
I want to make a name for myself and be recognized as an individual, to make a change in my community/ my corner of the world while fulfilling my current life's mission. I'm not saying screw working for the man, but I know I'd have a lot of fun trying to start up my own thing. It'll be a long process and I'll get what I give. But I've been trying to focus more on the journey instead of the destination which may sound contradicting, but I've never felt so on track or in tune with myself for a very long time.
So, here's the secret. How do you figure out what you want? Listen to yourself. It takes some time. It could take a long time. Truthfully, I think it took me four years and a month to get to this point. Maybe you think I have some sort of an advantage, I don't know, but I do know everyone is capable of achieving what they want as long as they learn to trust themselves and put confidence in the unknown. It's easier said than done, but with trial and error you'll figure out what you truly want, and it might change time from time and that's okay. Who knows where I'll be ten years from now? Allow yourself to be happy. Do every exercise and every test to understand yourself better. Try new things. Create a manifestation board. Think of short-term goals to reach your long-term goals. Create SMART goals. Learn to love yourself because you truly are unique and amazing.