Finding Your Path
written by Rachel W.
Thinking about careers can be scary… especially if you don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life. But even though it seems like going into the real world is slowly creeping up on us, if you’re prepared to handle it there’s nothing you can’t take on! I interviewed some of my teachers recently and here’s what they had to say:
- Sometimes we do things and don’t know why – maybe because we’ve stuck with it for so long or a parent expects us to stay with it. Don’t let your life be dictated by these things!
Think about careers that are going to fit a lifestyle you want. If you want to have a lot of time to spend with family, it would be hard to do that if you were a surgeon.- Always keep growing! You are never going to land in one spot and stay there forever. Majors change and life plans change; the best thing you can do is to roll with the punches.
- Do what makes your heart sing. If you’re in it for the money, you won’t be very happy. If you do what you love, money isn’t so important.
- If you’re stressed, it means you care (which is good!). However, it’s important to remember that there is a lot that is out of our control – sometimes we just have to have faith that things will work out in the end.
- The obstacles we face shape us into the people we become. If we don’t have them, how will we ever know what we are capable of?
If you’re like me, hearing these words from people who have already gone through college and the career search is pretty reassuring. What I took away from these interviews is that the most important thing you can do for yourself when thinking about the future is to relax and not hold so much stress internally. All of us are on a path to succeed as long as we work hard and find what we are passionate about.
Thank you to my teachers – Mrs. Kelly Kirwan and Mrs. Pam Conway – for letting me interview you about your respective career paths! For any readers who are stressed about jobs in the future, I highly recommend reaching out to trusted adults about how they ended up where they are now.