“I Don’t Know What I Want to Do with My Life”

I don’t know what I want to do with my life.”

“Rachel, you’re 20.”

It’s the phrases people my age throw around left and right.

What am I going to do with my life?

What job will I have?

Where do I want to live?

We have such anxiety about not being prepared for our futures. However, what we are doing right now is preparing us for our futures. The classes. The majors. The internships. The summer jobs. We’re doing everything right to better ourselves for what’s next after we graduate. Yet, why do we still feel unprepared?

Well to be honest, I think it’s because that’s life. Life is uncertain. Life changes. We don’t know our futures, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we have anything to worry about. Not knowing isn’t a bad thing. Not caring may be bad, but not knowing? That’s normal.

The whole “I don’t know what I want to do with my life” dilemma is exactly why we have to be so open and willing to try everything and take every opportunity. To make the big decisions, the small decisions. To make a change if we aren’t positive or happy about the way something is going (cue the mid-college transfer).

After all, how else will we really know what we want to do with our lives if we don’t know every option out there. We need to know what we can not should do with our lives–which truth be told is just about anything (I mean, that is what our parents and teachers have been telling us since kindergarten, right?).

I may not know what I want to do with my life, but as I was reminded, I’m only twenty years old. I’m still in college and that’s what this time is for—that’s what the next 10, 20 years are for; to find out what it is that I do want to do for the rest of my life. Right now I’m trying out sports communication in my internship, but during the next few years I plan on getting a taste of multiple industries before I become a post-grad adult and begin my career in any of the possible industries.

If the next decade is anything like the last two or three years, I think it’s safe to say the one thing I want to do for the rest of my life is going to change once, twice, 10 times if we’re being realistic.

I guess for now I’m just going to enjoy not knowing what I’ll do with my life. I’ll enjoy working different jobs, internships, taking a variety of classes and hopefully one day be able to answer the dreaded, “ so what do you want to do with that major?”

We’ll have to see…

-Rachel