What is it you want most in your life? What is the first thing that comes to mind when you close your eyes? For most people, it’s happiness or finding love or having a good career. We thrust ourselves into the world and expect ourselves to find what we want in an instant. As a kid, I always thought the world revolved around me. That sounds so egotistical when I say it out loud, but back then I thought it to be true. I thought every decision I made would be the same one anyone else would make.

But now as an adult, I realize that my decisions are completely my own. It hit me like a train on my first day of classes for college. Suddenly I was thrown into adulthood and was forced to make a decision regarding the rest of my life at the mere age of 18. Whether it be deciding if I want to become a nurse or a lawyer, or if I should eat healthy at the dining hall or get that cheeseburger that I’ve had my eye on. There’s so much freedom here and to be frank, I have no idea what to do with it. The easy answer is to immerse myself into school work and clubs or my sorority, but I second guess myself. Am I doing what I really want to do?

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Someone in high school said to choose a career that you like so it doesn’t feel like a job, but something you look forward to going to. I’ve kept that in the back of my mind as I’ve ventured into the life of a college student. It’s the most stressful part honestly. Writing would be my ideal career. To just live my life as a traveling writer, discover the unexplored caverns of world, learn different cultures and observe the world through my young, wide eyes.

Then another day, I see myself as a nurse. To be able to care for people and to ease their pain seems like the perfect job for me. I have to admit that I’m no genius in the science and math field, but with hard work and dedication, I could see myself being able to do it. There’s always a need for nurses and it’s such a steady career that it would be silly of me to pass that up.

I am a history nerd. I love learning about the past, what our founding fathers were like and what life was like way back in the way back. Learning about the past world and how we are similar to our ancestors who lived 100 years ago is something that has always fascinated me. When I was in high school, history was one of the few classes that I actually looked forward to going to. There’s something so interesting to me that every decision that the men and women of the past have made has resulted in the world we live in today.

This whole piece was kind of a selfish, get-all-my-thoughts-out piece but I also wanted this to hopefully ease a fellow college freshman. There’s no need for rash decisions or a college ‘mid life crisis’, but it is something we must stay aware about. There’s nothing wrong with switching your major, we are ever-changing. College seems scary and foreboding, but this is the time of our lives. I am blessed and happy to be here at the University of Louisville and I’m so happy with the relationships I’ve made so far. This is where we get to see who we really are. We get to see our strengths and become aware of our weaknesses. We’ve got to learn that we’re not going to be good at everything, that other people have skills that we simply do not. Just think about the first question I asked, what is it you really want in life?