When I was younger I remember being asked constantly about what I wanted to do with my life. At the age of 8 or 9, I didn't have the answer. Even in high school I didn't really know what I wanted to do. In terms of career, I discovered that I wanted to do something involving psychology. Although picking out a career path is important, there are other things in life to do. As a child and young adult, I wish people would have asked me more about how I want my life to turn out rather than just what I want to go to school for.

Now, at almost 20 years old, I have a real answer to what I want to do with my life. I want to be happy. That's it. I want this happiness to be something I create for myself, not something that someone else creates for me. I am tired of borrowed happiness, so I plan on creating my own. I want to find things, not necessarily people, that make me happy. My friends and family make me very happy, but people can leave you. Your hobbies and interests can't.

I wouldn't say I have a terrible outlook on life, but I know it could be better. I want to see things in a different way, I want to have a better attitude about things. I have to do that for myself because no one can do that for me. People can push me to see the good things in life and the good in situations, but at the end of the day, I need to see things for myself. For example, I went through a breakup recently, which obviously sucked. I got more closure than I've ever gotten during a breakup and I should be happy about that. Instead of being content with the closure, I am trying to find things wrong with the situation. There are so many positive things about this breakup. We are still friends, I went to his Thanksgiving dinner, and we'll probably hang out in December. There really isn't a reason for me to be looking at this situation so negatively.

Over Thanksgiving break, I decided I am going to try to be content with things and take things as they come my way. I have a feeling that, in the long run, this will make me happier than I have been in the past. There is no reason for me to worry about things that are beyond my control. There are so many good things in life and I don't want to miss out on those things because I am worrying about something else.