Growing up, you were encouraged to dream big. You made plans for your life and nobody told you if they were impractical or if you simply weren’t good enough for them. You coasted through a free public education, taking the classes they had planned for you, and the actual end of school seemed so far off, thinking about it was almost unrealistic.
Then one day it wasn’t.
Now you’re a college student, and every class you attend costs you actual, hard-earned money. The time you spend in class is time you don’t spend working. You’re asked what your major is, then you’re asked again, and again, and again. But what are you supposed to say when you don’t know?
When I was younger, I dreamt of being a dolphin trainer. Then, I found out that keeping wild animals in pools was like locking yourself in a bathtub, and that dream was flushed. Next, I was interested in marine biology, until an actual biology course taught me that science wasn’t my forte. The next career I looked into showed a low salary and basically non-existent opportunities.
I spent my first semester at college questioning what I was even doing here. Neither of my parents went to college right out of high school, and both are pretty well-off. There didn’t seem to be a reason not to focus on the job I currently have and try to grow there, when I wasn’t even sure that the benefit of college was going to outweigh the cost.
After having a mini mid-life crisis, talking with my parents and my friends, and binging on hours of Netflix in a dark room, I realized that none of my childhood dreams didn’t include college. And my other dreams weren’t achievable without college.
I came to college to grow as a person. I want to learn everything and go everywhere. I want stories to tell my kids, and a career I worked hard for and love, even if I don’t know what that career might be right now. I’ve got big plans for my life, and I owe it to myself to try as hard as I can to make 80-year-old me happy.
The next time you question what you’re doing in college, find somebody to talk to. Remind yourself of your dreams. Realize that we still have time to figure everything out and that you aren’t alone and that we can do it. I believe in us.
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