If you still don’t know what to do with your life, no matter how old you are, I want to say that you’re not alone. I’m almost 19 years old and I still don’t know what to do with my life either.
When I was younger, the question was, “What do you want be when you grow up?”
But since I’ve started college, I’ve been asked the same thing, but in a different format, such as “What’s your major?” or “What do you want to do as a career?”
My answers have been different ever since when I was in elementary school until senior year of high school. It went from teacher, to English major, to author. All of majors have things in common, but I truly didn’t know what I wanted to do and frankly, I still don’t.
When I meet my adults for the first time or when I haven’t seen them in a while, they ask how I am, how’s school going, etc. Then, the common question that gets brought up is, you guessed it, "hey, what’s your major?" I reluctantly answer, “I don’t know yet, still figuring it out."
There are usually three promising, predictable answers:
One: They are usually in some state of disappointment (and sometimes slight anger) with a response of “WHAT?!! How can that be? You’re already in your second year, you should know."
Response: Yes, I know that I’m in second year of college. I’m sorry, it’s my life, I’m taking a stroll in the park, not one hundred miles in a Lamborghini or speedy Gonzales. I’m taking my time, because I know I’ll find something eventually.
Two: They have a some-what biased opinion about what I should do, like a job with a huge pay—doctor, lawyer, computer programmer, business, engineering etc. They continue to say, “You can strike anywhere with these careers and they pay a lot. How about that? It’s a win-win situation.”
Response: I get that if you, family members, or friends are in that specific field, and you’ve seen them be successful, you’d want to give me a small idea of what some people you know do. I just am not really interested in the major career paths such as those things you just named.
Three: *says some type of art career* “Oh, that’s not a very great career to go into. You don’t make very much money. You should choose a different one, something that’s successful, not a career like that.”
Response: This one makes me a little agitated and anxious because you just told me or someone who wants to do something that makes them happy that it’s not good for them. What if that career makes them happy? What if that’s what they want? What if that it’s something they absolutely love and adore? You just sort of shut them down. It’s their life, not yours. I just hope that the person you’re saying this to has enough kindness and love in their heart for the path they’re taking to say that they can do whatever they want, because they CAN do whatever they want.
All in all, I respect each suggestion on what to do for my future career as I am a person who is still clueless.
I also accepted that there are people on the same exact boat as I am, and I hope we end up finding something we love to do.
