Elaina Eakle
ehe001@marietta.edu
The dreaded questions started as early as freshmen year in high school:
“What do you want to major in in college?”
“What career field are you interested in?”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
And they certainly didn’t stop there. Every day since then, I have felt the pressure to have a plan, to be certain, to know what I wanted. I felt the pressure to make a choice that would affect the rest of my life before I even knew what choices were available, and I know I wasn’t the only one. This pressure became so ridiculous that even my orthopedic surgeon was lecturing me about the dangers of going into college undecided.
Despite this, I still didn’t know, and I entered college undecided. I was all over the place in my interests; at first I wanted to become a pre-med student and later attend medical school, then I wanted to become a journalist, then I wanted to become an English teacher. It was mostly by accident that I stumbled onto the communication department and felt like I belonged.
That was only one hurdle, though. After that, the next set of questions began:
“So what do you do with a communication degree, anyway?”
“Are there even jobs in communications?”
“Are you sure you’ve thought this through?”
As we get closer to graduation, the questions intensify.
“Do you have a job yet?”
“How many jobs have you applied to?”
“Do you have a plan for the future?”
And even though I graduate in under 30 days, the answer is no. I don’t have a plan for the future, and I’m not sure what I want, and I know that I’m not alone in not knowing. For a while, I let this bother me. I felt like I wasn’t working hard enough, that I wouldn’t be successful unless I had some sort of concrete plan detailing exactly how my life would plan out. After all, we should all have our 5 and 10-year plans, right?
Well, for all of the students facing this pressure, let me offer you some advice: don’t worry. You might not have a job lined up yet, you might not be able to explain your 10-year plan in an interview, but don’t worry. It’s okay to not have a plan.
We are always pressured to have things figured out, to come up with a plan, to know what we want out of life, but think about it: how many students change their majors before they graduate? How many people change jobs in their lifetime, or even change career fields entirely? And how many of them wasted time worrying about their future along the way?
Until this point, I have made plans because I was pressured to do so, and yet those plans didn’t work out, and I’m glad they didn’t. Four years ago, I could not have predicted where I would be right now, and in this moment, I cannot predict where I will be four years into the future.
Plans are made to change and worry just drains our energy and enthusiasm. Don’t feel like you have to have it all figured out, because even if you think you do, you probably don’t, and that’s ok. We never know where life will take us, and that uncertainty is scary, but for me, accepting it is liberating. Better yet, it allows me to enjoy where I am right now instead of living in the future.
So, to the class of 2016, and those who come after, here is my proposition:
Let’s not worry about the future, and instead resolve to embrace uncertainty, to meet change with excitement and vigor. And most importantly, let’s remember to enjoy it all, to never let worry about the future prevent us from appreciating our present.
