I’m going to be honest, this question has been looming over my head ever since I graduated college. Our whole lives we are told to go to school and then after school, most of us are left with this feeling of “Now what?”. With my education career ending and life hitting me straight in the face, I was left with the question that I’m sure most twenty-somethings face “What next?”
I wasn’t like most of my peers who wanted to pursue a future in medicine, law, or business and had to get a master’s or more schooling to achieve their goals. All I wanted to do was travel! Which left me feeling like I was an outcast and not living up to my true potential.
OKAY enough with the sad somber SH**. Let me tell YOU how you can change your mindset and way of thinking if you are having these same feelings. Full disclaimer, I turned out just fine!
The most important step is:
- Differentiating the life you want vs the life your friends, family or society want you to have.
Read that sentence again and let it sink in!! Of course, these influences have a big impact on our decisions, but YOU need to figure out what is best for YOU and YOU only.
YOU are the only person you will ever wake up to day in and day out. YOU will be the one to look at yourself in the mirror and have to be with YOURSELF all day every day. So might as well love the person you are/are becoming.
- Once you figure out what YOUR priorities are, you can begin to live the life you have always wanted.
This is a difficult step. What kind of life do you want to live? Do you want a high-paying job with added stress? Do you want to live in a van and travel around the world? Do you want to start a family and buy a house? The questions can go on and on.
Figuring out your priorities helps you figure out where you will put your time and energy into your life. Energy is super valuable! I don’t care what background you come from or where you are in the world…everyone gets 24 hours a day to make something of themselves. What will you do in your 24 hours?
- Nothing in life is ever permanent!
Nothing in life is ever guaranteed, certain, or PERMANENT. Okay, get deep with me here for a second (philosophically speaking). If you think about it, you will never be in a place in life where you are stuck and feel like you cannot move. For example, if you buy a house and don’t want to live there anymore, sell it. If you marry someone and your values don’t align anymore, get a divorce. If you have been in the same job for 20 years and don’t like it anymore, find a new job. I know all of these are easier said than done but just know that you are never stuck in these tough situations that you think you might be in. If it is important enough for you to make a change, YOU will make it happen for yourself.
Feeling “lost in life” is inevitable for everyone at some point. But these are the moments in our life that are pivotal in our development as people and therefore have LIFE-CHANGING effects on us! We have so much ahead of us and can decide to do anything we set our minds to!
I mean how cool of a way to live in a world where WE get to choose what we want to do, instead of listening to what society tells us to do or what our parents and friends tell us to do? Do you want to sit back and let other people choose your life or do you want to take the reins and live the purest, most blissful life you’ve ever lived for YOU and YOURSELF? Anything in this life is possible and YOU have the power to do it. Now it’s time to get after it!!
You got this!
Kristy
