Being that most of us are currently in our twenties, and for some of us who have one foot out the door with graduation being around the corner, we are often asked, “What do you want?” Some of us want all of the fortunes in the world while others want to live more comfortably, but truly being asked what we want is one of the toughest questions that are asked.
The reason why the question puts us in such a difficult spot is because it makes us realize that life is catching up to us and we will soon be on our own. I truly think before we can answer that question, we must first answer the question, “Who are you?”
As individuals in our current society, I think it is very difficult for some of us to know who we are as a person. The first thoughts we have when asked are our names, birthdays, and physical characteristics; putting that to the side, answering this question will force us to take time to really think about it. High school is the time that we are trying to find ourselves and have an idea of what we want, but what most did not tell us is that it continues in college. This is the first time for most of us being away from home and having the time and experiences of who we are. Frankly, I can tell you at this moment of my life, as a 21-year-old junior, who I am as a person and what I want. But getting to this point in my life has not been easy. It took a lot of trial and error and putting myself out. Who we are does not stay the same and continuously changes throughout our lifetime. It changes with the experiences that life gives us and the people who we surround ourselves with.
After answering the question, we can finally move on to the question: What do you want? As I mentioned above in the beginning, many of us want things for the future, but the real questions are: What do we want now? Why now? Well, because we are at the period in our lives where most of us do not have anything set in stone just yet and because we are at the period in our lives where waking up at noon is still okay for us. Knowing what we want now will set the foundation for our desires and passions in the future.
My encouragement for those reading this is to take some time out of your week, or even your spring break, to ask yourself two questions: Who are you? What do you want? And if you cannot come up with an answer right away, that is completely fine! We are not living in a time crunch; you are the only one that can make changes in your life and the only one who can decide for yourself. But if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed with life in general, I assure you that having the answers to these questions will lift some weight from your shoulders. So, I leave you all with the questions: Who are you? What do you want?