At the start of each semester, it’s common for professors to send out surveys for their students to take prior to the start of class to get to know them better. Oftentimes included in the survey is a question about your post-graduation plans. Just this semester, I’ve stopped lying on that question and started telling the truth.
To me, college feels like a continuous cycle of the same questions being asked, such as “What do you want to do with your major?,” “Do you plan on going to grad school?,” or “Do you have an internship yet?” I feel incredibly behind when I get asked these questions, because I just don’t have an answer to any of them.
I know what people want to hear. They want to hear that you already have a summer internship lined up, that you’ve already begun searching for grad schools, and that you want to go right into your field of study after you graduate. As a community education and social change major, the way I used to word these lies was something along the lines of, “I plan on going to grad school to study school counseling and I hope to begin working in an elementary school right away.” Truthfully, I really don’t plan on doing any of that — at least, not right away.
I’m a huge believer in the statement “life is too short.” I’ve lost a few people close to my heart that have made me live by this statement every day. So, why should I spend this amazing gift of life doing something that I really don’t even want to do? I am so grateful and privileged to be living the life I already have. When I graduate college, I’m going to be a 21-year-old, able-bodied, full of life, young woman. Why would I spend these years sitting behind a desk wearing uncomfortable clothes and hardly ever seeing the light of day?
This isn’t to say that I don’t have an interest in my major and I don’t like my current job working with kids, because I do. I’m very passionate about the topic, just not so passionate about professionalism. The last thing I want to be doing during these years is stressing about how full my resume looks or how I should be making connections on LinkedIn. A common misconception I had for so long was that you couldn’t be successful without being professional and having a desk job. I’ve come to learn that this is most certainly not the case and I’m done pretending like this is the route I want to take in order to make others happy.
I grew up on the outermost point of Cape Cod. Being professional out there means you own your own fishing boat or you work in some other sort of trade. The atmosphere that I grew up in has really shaped me into who I am becoming today. Being successful here isn’t defined by how much money you have or what kind of car you drive, it’s about happiness. In all honesty, I’ve never had the desire to be professional by any means. I want to live this life to the fullest, and if that means I wait tables for the rest of my life then so be it, as long as I’m happy. Maybe I’ll even be a professional beach bum someday.
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