For my whole life, I dreaded the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Answering with, “I don’t know yet,” is cute and even expected when you’re ten, but it gets you some worrisome looks when you’re 18. Admittedly, I was worried too. How could I have gone my whole life without even a clue about what I wanted to do? Why was I not passionate about anything?
Feeling lost about your true calling in life is typical, especially as a teenager. However, I always seemed to be more lost than my peers. Some of my classmates were so drawn to an academic subject that they wanted to make a career out of it, and I couldn’t relate, despite always being a good student. Others found an extracurricular activity they loved early on and stuck to it for years. Meanwhile, it took until I joined my high school dance team to find an activity I enjoyed, and even then, I knew it wasn’t a passion I wanted to pursue after graduation. When my peers started talking about how their passions would translate into colleges, majors, and career paths, it felt like everyone boarded a plane I wasn’t aware was taking off.
“You’re not going nowhere just because you haven’t gotten where you want to go yet.”
Taylor Swift
At this point in my life, feeling clueless and about to graduate high school, I did have one true passion: Taylor Swift. Since I was 11 years old, I was known as the Taylor Swift girl everywhere I went. I knew every song by heart, from “Tim McGraw” to “You Are In Love.” I had perfected the art of drawing a 13 on the back of my hand, writing lyrics down my arms, and clapping at the right moment during “You Belong With Me.” I even ran a blog dedicated to updating fans on the latest Taylor Swift news, decoding her lyrics, and everything in between. I’ve never been casual about my love for Taylor Swift; calling it anything other than a passion would be an understatement.
But how could an obsession with Taylor Swift have anything to do with my future college education or career? At school, people rolled their eyes at me when I mentioned her name, and there’s not exactly a box to check for “Swiftie” on a college application. So it was really a meaningless thing to be passionate about, right? Wrong.
Just before I graduated high school, I realized I wanted to study English in college because of my passion for literature and creative writing — a passion I owe to Taylor Swift because her music taught me to love storytelling. Not only was I excited to analyze her lyrics for every deeper meaning, but she inspired me to spend all of my free time writing stories of my own. The answer to my college/career/life crisis was in front of me all along, and I enrolled in community college as an English major as soon as I realized it.
Before I knew it, I was transferring to UCLA. As a current junior, it’s hard to believe that I was completely clueless about college just a few short years ago. I’m now taking creative writing workshops, which are the best classes I’ve taken during my college career. I’m writing articles on pop culture and the music industry for, yours truly, Her Campus at UCLA, because my old Taylor fan blog grew into a love for music journalism. It may have taken six new Taylor Swift albums to get from clueless kid to UCLA English student, but now that I’m here, I know it’s exactly where I’m meant to be.
“I don’t think you should ever have to apologize for your excitement. Just because something’s cliché doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. The worst kind of person is someone who makes someone feel bad, dumb, or stupid for being excited about something.”
Taylor Swift
Feeling lost is okay. Not knowing what you want to do with your life is normal. I still feel uncertain about where I’m headed sometimes, but what new adult isn’t? If I’ve learned anything from Taylor Swift these past few years, it’s that you shouldn’t diminish your passions just because they seem trivial. Your passions aren’t stupid or worth less just because they’re different than everyone else’s. If something is important or exciting to you, it’s worth seeing through. After all, I probably wouldn’t be at UCLA today if I hadn’t spent a random afternoon watching the “Our Song” music video on repeat when I was 11. Thanks, Taylor, for everything.