Growing up, I envisioned my future and planned it out to the year. My thinking, that if I planned out my life in advance, I would essentially just have checkpoints to fulfill, and I would be less stressed overall. I also remember driving down to the big house with my family when I was little, thinking, “I’m going to go here someday!” Thankfully that part of the plan worked out! But as expected, as I got older, I was MORE stressed, and I also realized how crazy and absolutely insane my mentality was. Looking back, I was actually wishing my life away.
Now, since gaining an overall mentality of “just go with the flow” and “what happens, happens,” I have become a much less stressed and an overall more peaceful person. But, as nice as that sounds, I have also discovered that there is a fine line between this “what happens, happens” mindset and actually going after what you want.
I have never been one to be complacent or stagnant; I always have to be moving. But, this summer, A LOT of things changed, and one of the things I realized is that not everything is going to be in my control. For example, I switched my major from neuroscience to double majoring in economics and psychology. I could have never predicted this; my plan could have never predicted this, and growing up, I always, always thought I wanted to become a doctor of some sort. In addition to this, during the summer I worked at a place I never imagined myself being in and also met people and friends I never thought I’d cross paths with.
Now, going into sophomore year, looking back, worrying about my future only allowed me to wish away my present just to only look forward towards the future, and how could I want to wish away the incredible freshman year that I had, the clubs I joined, or the countless, amazing, unpredictable people I met?
This summer, I also did spring semester after completing my freshman year, and NO, it was not a part of the plan. But this was the most important two months of my life to date, because it was when I figured many things out—during a semester that I never thought I’d take but did for the experience (and for the credits!!)
So, especially since this is college and we are so focused on our potential careers, this is the perfect time to not wish our lives away. I have always thought that if we put in all of the work and effort that we need to, everything will work out how it is supposed to, whether we expect it to happen or not. Right now, we are exactly where we need to be.
Images courtesy of: faviana.com and studybreaks.com