Hi, my name’s Cassi. I’m 20 and I’ve changed my major 7 times. My dad hates me, even more, every time I come home with my “surprise” smile. “What is this time?” His go-to reaction because he already knows what my guilty smile means. I’ve been all over the board. Social studies education to psychology to business to english. For some odd reason, adults expect you to know exactly what you want to do for the rest of your life at such a young age. You’ve never been on your own before and your first foot out of the door is expected to pave the rest of your life? Wack. You have your entire life to pave your life, why do they put the pressure on us to do it so young? We barely know who we are and you want us to pick life-long careers? If you were one of the lucky ones to know what you wanted from the start and you didn’t change it, then congratulations, but I’ve changed it 7 times. My advisor never made me feel bad about it, or like I wasn’t ready to be an adult yet. She merely said, “no one knows what they really want to do, some never figure it out, college is just a way to figure it out. The more majors the better.” Because you have to try everything at least once, right? We’re young and we have all of the room for mistakes. Life isn’t as set out and structured as we like to pretend it is, being in a rut and indecisive is totally okay. No one should
make you feel irresponsible, or incapable, just because you’re not ready to write out your entire life. It’s such a big decision and adults act like it isn’t; like, it’s just another move in a board game. It truly affects the rest of our existence on this Earth and that, itself, demands thought. Experience. Not just a,” oh, that sounds fun. Sure, I’ll do that.” There is nothing wrong with not knowing. That needs to be iterated way more than it is. You do not need to have your life together. What does that even mean? “Having your life together”? I know grandparents who still don’t even know what they’re doing. Personally, I don’t think anyone knows what they’re doing. The layout of this map of how life is supposed to go, the exact steps they need to take, and when. Graduate at 17, college at 18, graduate again at 22, start a career at 23, engaged by 25, married by 27, kids by 30, etc, etc, etc. You don’t have to mold to expectations put on you by past generations and ideas. What other people want for you isn’t your business and you don’t need to want that for yourself just because society says that you should. You can go at your own pace, and more importantly, you can do whatever you want in this life. That’s the beauty of knowing there will one day come an end, you can make your own story, you can write it however you want. You don’t need to have it all together just yet, or ever really. Just take it by the day, and do whatever makes you happy.