Occupation: Unknown

Hey everyone!

Today I want to share with you all some things that have been on my mind and heart as of this week.

I want to preface this post by saying that the last thing I want this blog to become is a negative space where my readers and I rant and rave about things we do not like.

I am currently a Sophomore college student. I feel extremely blessed to be able to attend college on a scholarship that only requires me to keep a high A grade point average. I am extremely fortunate to be in college without going into debt that will follow me for years.

But, lately I have started to contemplate the way that young adults are told to continue their education. As of now, I have thought about three different majors, and so many careers I could not even tell you all of them. I am confused and still unsure of where I will or should end up in life and what my occupation will be (if I choose to pursue a career and not be a stay at home mom..maybe another post on that later).

In high school, most kids are taught basic education like reading, math, history, and sciences. These things are extremely important and help us to be good citizens of our country and communicate with others in an intelligent way.

What I feel that this does not prepare us for is trying to enter college, at the young age of 18, knowing what we would like to do for the rest of our working lives. By learning these things, we have no experience of the business world, or the medical field, or being a professional writer. We don't have experience in the work force. We haven't tried to learn what the day of an accountant or pastor is like.

I know some people grow up knowing their calling, but I for one, did not spend time in high school thinking about a future job. I was just trying to do my homework and get good grades on the tests that week.

I think that taking time to learn about your strengths and weaknesses is a good thing. Trying to find what makes you tick, makes you happy, and feel like you are accomplishing positive change in the world is really important. I think that a gap year is a positive thing and might affect a lot of students decisions to continue in school, if they knew going in what they wanted to study.

Another part of this discussion I've been having with myself, is wondering whether an almost "necessary" college experience is good for every young adult. I do not mean that college is unnecessary  for everyone and I know that some jobs definitely require schooling after graduating high school (uh, doctors please!).

But maybe, we all need to take a step back and think about what we really care about in life. Maybe defining ourselves by our calling isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Maybe the most important thing is finding a place where you feel you can make a positive difference and change lives of people around you.

Sincerely, Paige