What do you wish to accomplish in life? What are your ambitions? How will you achieve them? These are life’s most important and difficult questions. So how do you go about finding the answers?
The key is learning how to find inspiration from within yourself, not from others. Of course, this is much easier said than done. When you’re young, it’s very easy to get caught up in wanting to be like the friends you admire; you begin to confuse your true identity with an identity that’s become a product of your surroundings. However, as you mature and stray away from your past, you will learn a lot about your true self. Over time and through experiences you will put the puzzle pieces together and discover what your passions and talents are.
Once you decide what you want to do, the most important thing is to make sure that you don’t lose sight of your goals and that you stay motivated. One thing that I do is keep a list of 10 life goals (5 major, 5 minor) that if achieved, would mean that I lived a “perfect life”. Think of this as a to-do list that you have your entire life to accomplish. It will inspire you more than you know.
We all feel like we need to follow the path that society tells us to, but I think it’s more important to listen to your heart. People often try to belittle me because I dropped out of college, but I like to believe that I know what’s best for myself. I’ve always been one to follow my gut and it’s never let me down before. On the contrary, it’s taken me to some wonderful places and I have met some amazing people along the way.
When I was in college, I was a mess. I tried convincing myself that I knew what I wanted to do with my life, but in reality I had absolutely no idea; nothing felt right about me being there. I could have forced myself to go through those 4 years and get my degree, but that was too much of a risk for me. $40,000 is a whole lot of money and there is nothing I hate more than being in debt; it is a sickening feeling that consumes me.
The way I look at it- college will always be there. I want to live, explore and discover who I am and what makes me happy before I commit to choosing a career path. I’m slowly getting there, but at 18- I didn’t have a fucking CLUE. Young people love to act like they know exactly who they are and what they want to do with their time on Earth, but I can tell you this- 80% of them are lying to themselves. Humans are multi-dimensional creatures and constantly evolving. What you want this year, you may want nothing to do with the next. But that’s the wonderful thing about being young! You have that freedom!
Now, don’t get me wrong- this isn’t me telling you not to go to college. College is an amazing place that will truly enrich your life. It will not only educate you, but turn you into a beautifully well-rounded person. If your parents are willing to pay your tuition or you’re lucky enough to land a nice financial package, I definitely recommend going. However, I still personally think it’s best to wait a few years and discover your true passions before committing to a major. Many people choose majors too quickly and end up figuring out half-way through that it’s no longer what they want to do. Then the sad part is that many of them continue to push themselves to finish the degree and settle for this path that they no longer hold an interest in. In an alternate world where everyone had a very long life, I would say that the best age for college would be 25-30. Unfortunately we’re pressured to get the ball rolling basically the second we step out of high school, so this complicates things. Not to mention the pressure from society to follow the “timeline of life” when it comes to school, job, marriage, family, etc. Most people want to be married with a secure job by 30, so that doesn’t leave much time for thumb twiddling.
Fortunately, not everyone needs a degree to do what they love for a living. It is rare, but it is out there. The difficult thing is deciding if you’re honest enough with yourself when it comes to judging your potential. It’s going to take a whole lot of talent, work, effort, patience and luck to get to where you want to be without a degree. Creative careers {acting, singing, writing, designing, dancing, painting, photography and so on} are difficult because it’s rarely something that’s gained by getting a degree. It’s more about being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people to help you get there. And of course having a natural-born gift.
So many people abandon their dreams for so many reasons. It’s tough out there, you have to really be willing to fight to land your dream career. Some quotes that I constantly think about are:
“How bad do you want it? Because remember, there’s always someone, somewhere working harder than you.”
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”
So you may be wondering, “Kalel- what do YOU want to do with your life?”…haha. I’ve gone through so many different options, everything from psychologist to actor, and it’s been very difficult for me to figure out where I want to be. I have quite a few passions and I never really knew which one to follow. However, in the end I’ve decided to just follow my gut- which tells me that I need to do something with my creativity skills. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always felt like I just ticked in a different way than most. I could think of ways to create things that others couldn’t. People would always marvel over little things I did and ask me how I thought of doing it and I really didn’t understand how they didn’t see things the same as me. That is precisely why I know I’m destined to use my gift of creativity. What exactly I want to do with it is still a bit unclear, but I definitely have a general idea and direction. I may go back to school or maybe even design school. You’ll just have to stay tuned to see where I end up! :P
Luckily I’m not in too much of a hurry to do the things society demands from me. In the past few years of my life I have grown so much as a person. I have learned so much about myself and just life in general. I honestly wouldn’t exchange those years for anything. I learn more and more every day about how much things change with age: how you think, how you feel, how you react. It’s almost like you start getting little systems down for how you do everything… ok- I’m going on a tangent now, let’s bring this to a close.
I hope this post has inspired you guys a little bit. There is so much pressure on us to choose a path in life, but I hope you remember that at the end of the day the only person who can make the right decision for you is YOU. Find yourself, find happiness and everything else will fall into place.
Thanks for stopping by! Come back and see me tomorrow if you get lonely.
-Kalel
