Member-only story
When I got to college, I had a plan for where I wanted to go.
I’d been an avid science fiction fan all through high school. During my senior year of high, I read Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and I just knew I wanted to have a career in astrophysics. But soon, I realized how many science and math classes I would need to take and I lost steam.
So, I started to change majors every few months.
Even after trying English, Finance, Political Science, and Philosophy, I still had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do.
That lack of direction in academics was compounded by other personal issues, which led me to disregard academics and eventually drop out of Florida State University.
After tanking my finances and mental health, I moved back in with my parents.
It took almost a year of staring at the ceiling and feeling like an utter failure before I finally went back to school.
When I finally went back, I was fully committed to academics. I became the same avid reader I had been in high school and started to build some self-esteem.
However, even after graduating, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. But, when I landed a tech sales job, I was committed to working with the same intensity that had gotten me out of my dropout slump.
My route to finding a good job was circuitous.
It wasn’t a job I planned on doing, but I made the most of it and gave it my all. If I could go back in time, I would have treated more of my life this way — valuing consistency and work ethic.
While social media would make it seem that millionaires and micro-celebrities rain down from the sky, the truth is most of us will end up in jobs, situations, and circumstances that surprise us. Giving it your all at each stage of life is how you can keep moving more toward a “what” that you want but haven’t yet fully grasped.
