Growing up, there is an immediate pressure to decide your potential career while you are in high school. While not an absolute necessity, it’s a sentiment that is pressed on most high schoolers in order to apply to colleges and choose their majors.
This pressure roots itself even deeper as we progress through our college years. While major changes and career crises happen, the nearing promise of graduation makes these switches even more daunting. Oftentimes, it is easy to simply throw ourselves into the most practical career path for convenience, and stick with it despite the nagging feeling that there is something missing. After all, our time is limited, and it goes without saying that we must figure out what we want to do at some point.
But how are we supposed to decide our future careers in the beginning of our lives, before we’ve experienced anything at all?
While the stigma of having it “figured out” continues to loom over students from their early teens to their emergence into adulthood, times are thankfully beginning to shift. Nowadays, people are switching their careers much later in life, and it is becoming normalized to return to school after working a job you realize is not for you. Many people enter their dream career well into their 40s, despite working most of their lives towards a different path.
Although there is a history of stigma surrounding late career changes, there is not a huge rush to be 100% certain about whatever it is you want to pursue. As times change, so can our mindsets and our passions.