You may know your major, what job you want, and how many kids (if any at all). You may know what kind of home you want, what type of man or woman you see yourself with, and whether you prefer Marvel, DC, or refuse to pick a side (#WakandaForever).
You may even claim, although it’s liable to change and expand, that you know what your purpose is in life.
I applaud you for knowing what you do about yourself and your life thus far. The one thing, though, that I can assure you none of us have figured out is…
What exactly we are doing with ourselves at this very moment.
Don’t get me wrong, plenty of my peers know what they love to do, want to do, and (more often than not) how to do it. I see plenty of hashtag #bosses on campus or in my town doing big things and making big moves for their futures.
It’s a beautiful thing to KNOW and SEEK knowing, butwhen the spotlight is down and the expectations are lifted off of your shoulders, what then?
How do you really feel when you’re scanning your planner and realize you don’t have the energy to complete one task? What about the moment when you’re doing an internet deep dive and realize the career you’ve wanted since elementary school might not pay the bills?
Let’s not talk about the moments when fear and jealousy combine, even if just for a second, to create the ultimate monster that momentarily devours any viable confidence you have left.
It’s safe to say that, in these moments, we really don’t have a clue what’s going on and what to do about it.
Depending on the situation, we are bound to either be swept off our feet or drop-kicked. Regardless, knowing how to deal with every situation isn’t always a luxury we get to have. When we’re blindsided by life, we’re blindsided. Period.
Thankfully, there’s usually a rainbow after a storm and that rainbow, in our case, is learning true strength.
True strength is being okay with a difficult workload you didn’t see coming. True strength is forgiving yourself when you want to change your major (again) and breathing through the process of breaking off a long-term relationship. True strength is being okay with the realization that you might NOT know what’s going on regardless of how much you think you understand.
My advice to you? Find peace with not knowing every detail about this thing we call life. Maybe your career will change and maybe your relationship will end. Maybe you’ll struggle now and celebrate later or celebrate now and struggle later.
Knowing ALL is a gift none of us have for a reason.
Where’s the fun in knowing all, anyway? The best part about our youth and life, in general, is figuring it out. Brick by brick. Day by day.
So, relax. None of us have any clue what’s going on and that’s okay.