“And what do you want to do after you graduate?” — the dreaded question. Soon enough, any college student develops some pre-packaged answer to this question, something that will satisfy nosy relatives and prevent too many further lines of questioning. After repeating my own answer enough times, even I believe myself when I say that I’m confident in what I want to do: be a therapist for children and adolescents. This confidence quickly fades once I allow myself to reflect on it for longer than five seconds, and waves of doubt set in. There are so many things that I find interesting, so how do I know that I’m picking the right one to focus on? In fact, am I even interested in the things I claim to care about? Will I really be happy doing what I say I want to? In an attempt to combat these panicked thought spirals, I’ve begun to reframe the way that I think about my future career in several key ways.
#1: Embracing uncertainty
Even though a part of me hates not knowing exactly what comes next, in a way it is actually quite thrilling. The sheer number of choices is at once overwhelming and exciting — there are jobs that I’ve never even heard of before, jobs I could have that do not yet even exist. Instead of being scared of this concept, I’ve begun to think of it as a wonderful thing. After all, I don’t have to commit to only one job for my entire life. With so many possibilities to explore, I can change my pathway many times throughout my life.
#2: Taking new experiences and passions as they come
Although exploring activities outside of my comfort zone initially brings me a lot of anxiety, it has also brought some of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Last fall, I began volunteering with 4th Wall Theatre Company, an organization that provides theatre classes for youth with special needs. I was hesitant to join at first, being one of the only non-theatre majors there and feeling unsure as to whether I would be any good at helping the students with theatre. However, it soon became one of the highlights of my week. At the end of a busy day, the pure joy in that class energized me. This experience broadened my view of not only which populations I may want to work with in the future, but also of the wide range of ways I could incorporate creativity into my work. Embracing experiences such as this one creates opportunities for the development of new passions that may influence my future pursuits.
#3: Realizing that career isn’t the only important part of life
Your career may take up a lot of your time, and it is definitely an important part of your life, but it is not the only part of life that has value. There are so many parts of life that can bring you joy — expecting your job to bear the burden of fulfilling you is unreasonable. It’s also unreasonable to think that every single thing you’re interested in can be incorporated into one singular job, but that does not mean that you cannot still engage with these things. Career isn’t everything, and your life outside of your job can be just as, if not more, fulfilling as your job itself.
I won’t pretend that I don’t still experience anxiety when thinking about my future, but I have found ways to reframe this anxiety into a more productive train of thought. Knowing that I have many options, being open to exploring new interests, and accepting that my career isn’t everything has soothed the fear I experience when I look forward into the unknown.
#1: Embracing uncertainty
Even though a part of me hates not knowing exactly what comes next, in a way it is actually quite thrilling. The sheer number of choices is at once overwhelming and exciting — there are jobs that I’ve never even heard of before, jobs I could have that do not yet even exist. Instead of being scared of this concept, I’ve begun to think of it as a wonderful thing. After all, I don’t have to commit to only one job for my entire life. With so many possibilities to explore, I can change my pathway many times throughout my life.
#2: Taking new experiences and passions as they come
Although exploring activities outside of my comfort zone initially brings me a lot of anxiety, it has also brought some of the most meaningful experiences of my life. Last fall, I began volunteering with 4th Wall Theatre Company, an organization that provides theatre classes for youth with special needs. I was hesitant to join at first, being one of the only non-theatre majors there and feeling unsure as to whether I would be any good at helping the students with theatre. However, it soon became one of the highlights of my week. At the end of a busy day, the pure joy in that class energized me. This experience broadened my view of not only which populations I may want to work with in the future, but also of the wide range of ways I could incorporate creativity into my work. Embracing experiences such as this one creates opportunities for the development of new passions that may influence my future pursuits.
#3: Realizing that career isn’t the only important part of life
Your career may take up a lot of your time, and it is definitely an important part of your life, but it is not the only part of life that has value. There are so many parts of life that can bring you joy — expecting your job to bear the burden of fulfilling you is unreasonable. It’s also unreasonable to think that every single thing you’re interested in can be incorporated into one singular job, but that does not mean that you cannot still engage with these things. Career isn’t everything, and your life outside of your job can be just as, if not more, fulfilling as your job itself.
I won’t pretend that I don’t still experience anxiety when thinking about my future, but I have found ways to reframe this anxiety into a more productive train of thought. Knowing that I have many options, being open to exploring new interests, and accepting that my career isn’t everything has soothed the fear I experience when I look forward into the unknown.
