All your life, all you’ve heard or going to be hearing until you’re at least 35 and your mom gives you permission to control your own life for a short period of time, is “what do you want to do with your life?” Instead of taking a pause and actually thinking this question through, many of us become victim to our imaginations and we are instantly transported to this fairy tale world where the streets are made of candy and the homes lining the streets are all jelly and fluffy and everything is just wonderful as we answer the question. “I’m going to be…” Go ahead…take a deep breath and come back to us if you were just in that world. It’s ok. I forgive you. There is nothing wrong with knowing why you’re in school and what career path you know you are going to be in, but there is a problem when AFTER you’ve received a degree and start working in your respective field you hate it. Especially when it could’ve been avoided. So if you want to do something, prove it now by mastering your craft with hands on experience. A degree is just words printed on glossy paper if you wait till after you’ve obtained it to go after your dreams. You’ll be too far behind.
In high school when the question was posed it was ok to say “who the hell knows?” Though, most of us answered to feel that sense of power over our futures. Because when you can’t even grasp your own destiny, what control does one really have over the smaller entities that create their being? But that’s who I was in high school. I can honestly say I had no idea what I wanted to do, and if what I wanted to do can be fixed in one title. Don’t get me wrong, I had an idea of where I needed to be to most influence the world with my craft, but what position I would hold was foggy to me. At 14 or 15 years old I cared about having fun, procrastinating, and skipping class to see if today I would get caught. I wasn’t thinking about if I was about that “adult life of going to school for 12 or more years”. Because now, in college, I KNOW I’m not about that life. I barely escaped four years high school, and you want me to stay in school for how much longer? I’ll pass, you can serve me that dish of L’s cooked well done.
I am a mass communications’ major, something I’ve always had a passion for. My mom will tell me stories of how growing up every time I watched a movie I would get up and imitate the actors on screen. Little did she know, she gave birth to a future film making BOSS. But even that didn’t give me what I needed to fully know what I want to do when I get older. Honestly speaking, I’ve come from wanting to be an actress, to a radio host, to a screen writer, to a film director to now just a simple “look, give need this degree and we’ll figure the rest out later”. But even so, I am working on mastering my craft by constantly looking for an audition, an internship, a person to shadow, or something that’ll expose me to the right crowd in order to get my foot in the door. Then we’ll figure the rest out.
All I’m saying is, don’t say you want to be a nurse or a doctor one day and you’re working at Ross Dress for Less. Unless you’re trying to finesse the system because you know you need that discount on those scrubs. It’s always a plus when you think like a winner. Hashtag college student life. Hashtag College brokenness is no joke. So, if you’re passionate about something, prove it to yourself. Young doctors in training get a job as a receptionist at a hospital, young writers the library is almost a second home. For those of us who want to be teachers, there’s always a need for substitutes—teachers call out too you know? So I ask you, and before you answer take a minute or two, what are you really planning to do with your life?
Photo from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/college-graduation-memes-slides…