Every Junior knows that once you become an upperclassman, you are held to a completely different standard. At this point in your college career you are expected to know what you want to do with the rest of your life because graduation is only two years away. The year is full of interviews, internships, job preparation, and thoughts about what life after graduation holds. Most juniors seem to handle this very well- they seem to have a rough life plan and begin to work towards achieving it. But for the rest of us lost sheep, we look at the rest of our prepared herd of juniors with fear and panic in our eyes.
Our society holds us to high standards when it comes to determining our life plans. We are expected, at the young age of eighteen to go off to college with at least some broad idea of what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Therefore, by the time we are in the middle of our college career we are expected to be nearly ready to leave the comfort of college live and enter into the “real world”. The lucky ones have broad ideas of what they want from life and are able to fulfill society’s expectations. Unfortunately, some of us are not that lucky.
As one of the lost sheep of society, it is not easy to feel like everyone around you has their life together and on a track while you are just going through the motions, praying that you’ll figure life out. Everyone says that you have plenty of time to figure out what you want to do while you are in college and that you can always change your mind, but when you admit that you don’t know the direction in which your life is going, they give you looks of pity and shame. At this point in your college career people expect you to have a vague idea of what you want after graduation. But the reality is I’m young, I have very little life experience, I have too many interests, and I have no idea where I’m going to end up at the end of my four years of college.
After struggling with the panic and shame of going through college with little to no life direction, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s okay that I don’t have my life figured out. I refuse to feel bad about not having my life planned out, and as long as I’m working hard at what I do, it is okay that I don’t know what the end result will be. In reality, even those who have their life all figured out cannot plan and take into account all the uncertainties of life, and in the end their life plans might not end up the way they hoped or anticipated. At least by being undecided in my future I am not holding myself back by preconceived life expectations.
So fellow lost sheep- do not panic, do not worry. I know it’s hard not to feel the pressure of being separated from herd that all know their path. But in the end we will all find our way, even if we aren’t fully confident in ourselves now. Just open yourself up to ideas and experiences and eventually we will all find our way.
