“Ignoring your passion is slow suicide. Never ignore what your heart pumps for. Mold your career around your lifestyle not your lifestyle around your career”.
As you all know, I write a lot of advice posts on my blog and share personal moments in my life with you all because I hope that it’s going to help at least one person out there. Out of all the topics that I’ve written about, this one is the hardest to write despite many college students going through the same problem: we just don’t know what to major in.
Right after high school, we’re expected to go to college and pick a major and that career is what we’re going to be doing for the rest of our lives. At the ripe age of 18 we’re expected to just know what our passion is despite the fact that we have no idea who we are. Tough world, right?
Choosing a major to study was ridiculously difficult for me because I had so many broad interests. I wanted to be an actress, a writer, a wedding planner (alright so the last one is a bit cliche haha). The possibilities are endless, I could be a million different people. Why can’t I choose my major the way I choose dresses? I could just try them all on and see which one fits and feels the best. Well, sadly life doesn’t work that way. You don’t have enough time so the only way you can narrow down all your choices is by making mistakes (my biggest pet peeve!).
The biggest mistake I’ve made through this process is listening to other people. I listened to my parents, my friends, and every other person who’s in my life. I let them have power over me and convinced myself that my dreams were too “big” and that I should go for safety. I was ashamed of my talents and used to wonder why I was given them if they weren’t going to benefit me in any way. Why couldn’t I be good in math? or science? or any other majors that make a lot of money? So I settled for a major that would promise me a “secure” future. Never once did it occur to me if this would make me happy. And boy was I unhappy…
The first two years of studying a major that I didn’t like turned out to be the worst decision I’ve ever made. Deep down inside, I knew that I was making a mistake but I kept convincing myself that it will eventually get better. It didn’t. It came to a point where I had no motivation to even go to class anymore. Life just suddenly became meaningless and worthless. This was one of the lowest moments of my life. I just kept thinking to myself “this isn’t the way my life was supposed to turn out…”.
Little did I know, my lowest moment was actually a blessing in disguise. The irony. If I never chose a major that I didn’t like then I never would’ve gotten the motivation to start blogging which means I never would’ve discovered what I really like! It’s funny how things seem to work out at the end.
Blogging made me realize what my passions are yet the whole time I was completely oblivious to it. All my life I was looking for the answer when in reality, the minute that I let go and stopped focusing on it was when the answer came to me. That’s how dreams are, they always seem to sneak up behind you. It rarely shows up in front of you and many of us miss our calling because of this.
To anyone out there who feels lost and is unsure about the future: stop listening to others and learn to let go. Don’t make the same mistake that I did. Listen to your intuition and remember that along the way the dots will connect. It’s not a coincidence that you were born with certain talents and passions. These are all your clues to figuring out what you want to do for your future. Most of all, don’t be afraid of taking chances and starting something new. You never know what it could lead to.
I hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts!
-Ruya
Wise words – I really enjoyed reading this! In the UK, we actually have to choose a particular degree in an already specialised field at the age of 18. So it's kind of a different world in that sense haha. I've always envied American degrees for being so open in some ways, with a freedom we don't necessarily have in the UK. But it's interesting hearing what it's like for American students, that's for sure!
I'm glad you liked it Fatema! I think it's just hard to be a college student in general these days haha. Good luck with school!
This is such an honest, vulnerable post. I have always loved my major but have a lot of friends who are going through the same thing, and I will definitely take this approach with them!
Thank you Alex!
This is an amazing post. I, myself, have been having trouble with the decision of my major and I'm halfway through my junior year. It's really a horrible feeling being trapped. I think my major is something that may get me somewhere I need to be in life. Other than that, people don't always do what they study in college. The number is huge. So i try not to stress and live day to day.
Thanks for this great post.
xoxo Brynne
http://theblissfullysimpleblog.blogspot.com
Blogging opened my eyes to the idea that "Comms" can be a lucrative career choice and college major. I only ash I had started blogging in undergrad!