We have all been questioned on our choice for our career after high school. Each time I am asked, I find myself tongue-tied. When I tell them that I, like so many other teenagers, have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life, a worried look spreads across their faces. They try reassuring me that I have plenty of time to figure out my future and I agree, even though we both know that my time for making a decision is quickly running out. Teenagers are known to be irrational bundles of hormones, and it’s at this point that we are faced with one of the biggest decisions of our lives: what we want to devote our futures to.
When deciding our futures, one of the biggest decisions is choosing a career. For some, it comes very easily, while others find it extremely difficult to match up your strengths with a reasonable career. An easy way of getting an idea of what you want to do is to make a list, write down the core classes (Math, English, Science and History) and figure out your favorite. After finding your favorite, try and choose what you are best at. If your favorite and biggest strength match up, that’s a possible career field to look into. A common struggle with choosing a career is often between the job that makes more money or the one that will make you happy. If you can’t find a compromise between the two, go for the career you love. You might not be making as much money as you could’ve, but getting up in the morning and being excited to go to work is truly priceless.
Your future is your choice, and making serious decisions based off of what your friends or significant other decides to do rarely works out for you. If all your friends want to go to one college but you’re really in love with another, go to the one you love. It’s your college experience, not theirs. Making new friends will be easy and if you want to talk to your old ones, you can visit, video chat or call them. Where and what you go to college for is completely your choice because you’re the one that has to live with your decisions. Yes, parents and guidance counselors may suggest a certain direction, but ultimately it’s your choice.
High school is the time to figure out your future. Freshmen, sophomores, juniors and even seniors roam the halls wondering about what they’re going to do after high school. If you don’t know what you want to do by senior year, that’s okay. Choosing a career and a college may seem like a daunting task, but just give it some serious thought and research and in no time you may stumble upon a career and college you love.