I envy those who knew what they were destined to be ever since they exited their mother’s womb. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be a marine biologist for the entirety of my childhood until I entered high school and nearly failed every science class I had to take (I still don’t know what cellular respiration is). But if everyone did exactly what they said they were gonna do when they were children the world would be a much different place, amirite? For some of us, that moment of eureka doesn’t happen until you’re 25, 30, even 50 years old, whereas others are going viral for dunking basketballs at the age of 3. The real struggle is finding what it is that you excel at. The pursuit of happiness in this miserable world involves finding that one niche that makes you happy AND pays the bills (more or less, professional cup blowing doesn’t count). For many people, including myself, college is that pursuit. Four years of taking different classes in every field possible trying to hone in on your calling with the nightmare of never being able to figure your sh*t out. Well, guess what. That nightmare is possible…. And it’s happening to me.
I’m about to graduate from my University, and I still don’t know what the hell I want to do with my life. Although I did enjoy my major and did well in my studies it still doesn’t give me that sense of passion that I am looking for. So here I am; 23, jobless, buried up to my neck in student debt. And you know what? It’s okay.
It’s okay that I am more than just my GPA. It’s okay that I am part of that percentile that didn’t walk straight into a job after college, and it’s okay that I am not making a six figure income at the age of 23. You know why? Because now is the time to find myself. To take this newly acquired free time and put it to something other than scrolling through my Facebook feed on the couch for days on end without blinking - feeling sorry for myself for not having a job like all of my friends (most of them hate their jobs anyway). Because it is still an accomplishment to finish college that thousands of Americans can’t say they ever did, and because there is nothing wrong with dropping everything and spending every dime you have on a trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights, even if there's only a 50/50 chance of clear skies. Because life is about taking leaps, and they come in many lengths. It’s easy for us to recognize all the times we fall, but it is also easy for us to forget about all the times that we landed on our feet.
So take my lead; get off the couch, and go outside. Sign up for a class - cooking, pottery, yoga, literally ANYTHING that interests you. Travel across the neighborhood or travel across the world. Talk to people when doing your day to day instead of putting your head down and avoiding eye contact. Take the time to do something that is outside of your comfort zone and maybe you’ll come across something that you’re damn good at, and something that will give you that moment of “omg maybe I can make money doing this”. Because there is more to life than just having a college degree and even though I still have no f*cking clue what I want to do with my life, at least I know that I have a whole life of adventure ahead of me to figure it out.
