When I grow up...

Photo taken by Erin Shriver

The age-old questions; what do you want to be when you grow up is still a question I am asking myself everyday. Even with graduation a mere 17 days away and counting, I don’t know exactly what I want to be when I grow up.  

So what am I supposed to do to figure out what I am meant to be? I obviously have the thought of the job I’ve always wanted to have, which is an Event Coordinator, but how do I know if that is what I want to end up being until I retire?  

Being an Event Coordinator, or Event Planner is a very hectic, late days, weird hours, type of job and I want to one day have a family…this means those hours and days wouldn’t work with my life.  

So what am I supposed to do? Step into the real world thinking I want to be one thing and find out in a few years it wasn’t the right thing? Or should I do some soul searching before taking a job?  

I obviously went onto Google to do some research to figure out if anyone out in cyberspace could help me figure out what I want to do with my life and I came across a great article. Lifehack.org has an article titled “7 Powerful Questions To Find Out What You Want To Do With Your Life” and I think I might just be jotting down my answers to these questions as I write this story.  

1. What are the things I am most passionate about?  The first step to living a more fulfilling life is to think about the things you’re passionate about. What do you love? What fulfills you? What “work” do you do that doesn’t feel like work? The point is, figure out what you love doing, then do more of it.  

2. What are my greatest accomplishments in life so far? Think about your past experiences and the things in your life you’re most proud of. How did those accomplishments make you feel? Pretty darn good, right? So why not try and emulate those experiences and feelings? Continue to do the things that have been most fulfilling for you.  

3. If my life had absolutely no limits, what would I choose to have and what would I choose to do?  Here’s a cool exercise: think about what you would do if you had no limits. If you had all the money and time in the world, where would you go? What would you do? Who would you spend time with? These answers will help you figure out what you want to do with your life.  

4. What are my goals in life? Goals are a necessary component to set you up for a happy future. So answer these questions:  

• What are your health goals? 

• What are your career goals? 

• What are your family goals?  

5. Whom do you admire most in the world? Following the path of successful people can set you up for success. Think about the people you respect and admire most. What are their best qualities? Why do you respect them? What can you learn from them? It’s been said that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Spend more time with happy, successful, optimistic people and you’ll become one of them.   

6. What do I not like to do? An important part of figuring out what you want to do with your life is honestly assessing what you don’t want to do. What are things you despise? What bugs you the most about your current job? The point is, if you want something to change in your life, you need to take action.  

7. How hard am I willing to work to get what I want? Great accomplishments never come easy. If you want to do great things with your life, you’re going to have to make a great effort. This will probably mean putting in more hours than the average person, getting outside your comfort zone and learning as much as you can to achieve as much as you can. But the cool part is: it’s often the journey that is the most fulfilling part. It’s during these seemingly small, insignificant moments that you’ll often find the “aha” moments that helps you answer the question, “What do I want to do with my life?” So take the first step toward improving your life. You won’t regret it.  

Just by reading these tips, it got me thinking more about what I can be and who I am going to become.  I hope that for all the first-years, sophomores, juniors and even seniors like myself take all of this information into consideration when trying to figure out, what do I want to be when I grow up.