Here is a conversation I have had about 20 times this semester:
Person: Hey, Greta! How’s it going? I haven’t seen you for a while!Me: Hey! I know, things sure have been crazy because of #COVID. I’m doing well, though! I’m enjoying all of my classes!
Person: That’s good! You’re studying ________ (possible answers: psychology/journalism/history/English/art/Spanish/literally any other major), right?
Me: Haha, actually, I changed my major again.
Person: Again? Didn’t you change it, like, 12 times last year?
Me: Yeah, I did. I feel bad for the Registrar’s office …
Person: Well, at least you’ve settled on something now!
Me: Umm, I don’t remember saying I settled on anything … I’m planning on changing my major again. Probably next week, to be honest.
Person: Oh.
Me: Oops, gotta go! Bye!
That, of course, is a rough estimate. I don’t ALWAYS end all of my conversations with, “Oops, gotta go! Bye!”, although it sure can be helpful. Anyway, all of this to say, I am really, really, really bad at making my mind up about what I want to study.
I don’t understand all of these people who enter college and say, “Yes, I am going to commit the next four years of my life to the study of BIOLOGY. That is my passion. That is what I will do for the REST OF MY LIFE, period.”
If this is you, I am calling you out. You’re faking it. No way can you actually know what your “passion” is already.
I sure don’t. Heck, if the Goshen College administration sat me down and told me I had to choose one major and stick with it for the rest of my college career, I would probably start crying. Then, I would call them all some really mean names.
Hmmmm. You know, it almost sounds like I have commitment issues. That could explain a lot actually….
Never mind that, I’ll save that for therapy.
I think that the true problem here is that there are too many interesting things to study. And when you graduate, you are done-zo. You have had your shot.
Unless you want to pay a bunch of money and go to grad school. So, you’d better make the right decision! Don’t screw up! FIND YOUR PASSION NOW!!!!
Well, what if I have multiple passions, or even worse, none?!
That’s my biggest fear. Not finding my thing. My calling. My life’s purpose. What if I just float around endlessly throughout my life, reflecting on the glory days when I was the Funnies editor for my college’s newspaper (for two consecutive semesters, may I add)?
That seems highly possible.
Okay, I don’t mean to get all existential here. The real reason I wrote this is so that everyone knows that it’s okay not to have everything figured out and if it seems like someone does have it all figured out, they are a liar. I guarantee there is almost nobody on this planet who has ALL of it figured out. Not even Michelle Obama (shocking, I know). And, if you would like to rebut this, because you DO have it figured out, please do. Hit me up at gretalk@gmail.com and tell me how it is that you have figured out your life, because I obviously need help.