Not Knowing What You Want to Do in Your Life (And Why That's Actually Okay) By Sarah Bargfrede

Its February and as you all probably know, the topic of the month is “Anything Goes.” That means it is time to flex our full creativity, no restraining topics or guidelines to prevent you from writing your heart out about your purest passions and deepest desires. Absolute. Unmitigated. Freedom. And yet, I have absolutely no idea what to write. After spending approximately thirty minutes of my life rephrasing the ways to look up “what to blog about” I finally came up with an idea (no thanks to any of the repetitive sources on the internet telling me to post cooking recipes and how-to guides as if I’m qualified to do anything that involves a hot oven or general life skills). As evident in my title, the topic of my blog is the acceptability of being unprepared for the future, a post near and dear to my hyper-organizer, planning-centered self. 

The guidance counselors are probably having a seizure reading this essay, especially with their recent discussion about our career paths determined by a completely inaccurate online quiz (unless I’m destined to become a cashier, in which case, good to know, thanks Naviance!) With the recent and constant fanatics regarding our future paths, the stress seems to be piling on. Believe me, I understand the importance of being prepared but I also understand the importance of cherishing our few remaining years of limited responsibilities. For the risk of sounding like that inspirational poster your mom saw hanging in HomeGoods, we have become accustomed to spending so much time thinking and worrying about the future that we are unable to live in the present. From eighth grade when teachers seemed to constantly ask our future aspirations, to freshman year when the PPSAT asked for our intended college major, to now, when presentations about colleges and jobs have become synonymous with the word “school.” Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating but the point is, as a Sophomore with little to no occupational passions, the constant onslaught of future related discussions has made it difficult to see that it really IS okay to be a little unprepared. It’s our Sophomore year. You don’t have to know exactly what college you want to go to. You don’t have to know what your collegiate major is going to be. You don’t have to know what professional position you want. You don’t have to know all the answers. 

I’m not saying that it’s a good plan to slack off until the end of your senior year and then question what the heck it is you want to do with your life (in fact, that is a TERRIBLE plan, please don’t do that) but it is an awfully big decision to expect 15 and 16-year-old teenagers to know what they want to do for the Rest. Of. Their. Lives. Especially when there are a multitude of opportunities available for those unable to do just that. For starters, many colleges offer flexible degree programs granting students the extra time they require to legitimately determine what they want outside of the protected high school bubble. There are also more general STEM degrees, gap years (although our parents probably aren’t too inspired by that approach), and let’s not forget our entire Junior year to consider what our passions are and to plan our futures accordingly. To sum it all up, it is always important to be prepared, but not at the cost of extreme stress levels, not at the cost of missed highschool years and experiences, and not at the cost of planning so far ahead that you miss the unrestricted joys of the present.