The best advice I've ever received came to me from a 9-year-old girl.
I'd been her nanny for two summers. We had spent a day at Como Town, enjoying enough cheap thrills and artificially colored sugar to be worth the price of my kidney. Stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on the return trip, we happened to pause near the entrance to the college I attend. Still riding a sugar high, which amped up her already dizzying curiosity, this kid began spouting rapid-fire questions from the backseat. Each answer I gave sparked a new bombardment of questions, ranging from my friends to extracurricular activities. Inevitably, she asked the one question I dreaded, the one question I did not have an answer to.
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"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
I paused, unsure of how to explain it to her.
How do I explain the stress that follows that question like thunder follows lightning? That my lack of an answer to this question sends me into a panic nearly every night? That to give a decisive answer to that question feels like a greater commitment than signing away my soul?
That I have absolutely no idea what I want to do?
Bottling up the nervous rant that would quickly spiral out of all control, leaving this poor innocent child permanently scarred, I answered simply, "I'm not sure yet. I'm still figuring it out."
She fell silent. After a record-breaking 6 minutes, this child stared contemplatively out the window and said,
"Why don't you just be a Katie?"
I froze. The simplicity of this thought floored me. It was like a never-ending smog had just lifted from around me and the first whiff of fresh air finally entered my lungs. I could hear God speaking to me as tangibly as I heard this young voice in my back seat.
As a Christian, I feel continuous, enormous pressure from myself and those around me to find God's will for my life. Every decision I make comes with the knowledge that one wrong move may send me veering off course and into a wasted life. I'm supposed to be growing, finding God's will, moving into it, never wasting a moment.
As a college student, I feel the pressure to do all of it right now.
Of course, these are self-inflicted stresses blown way out of proportion by anxiety. It took a piece of advice from a 9-year-old to get me to see it.
These pressures aren't healthy for anyone, nor are they Biblical.
Proverbs 16:3 says, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
Instead of trying to decide where you'll end up in 30 years in the next 30 seconds, decide to be you each and every day, whatever that may mean. Rest in God, lean into him in the small moments, and he will steer you in subtle ways. Focus on being the you God created you to be each moment, and in 30 years, you'll be exactly where He wants you to be.
So next time you find yourself losing your mind stressing out about your future, what you will be, what major you should choose, or what job you'll apply for, remember this 9-year-old who wants you to just be you.
If not, you could always go with her follow-up advice:
"Or you could be chocolate!"
