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Making crucial life choices. Need help.
I went to college, finished two semesters, took a semester off. I have been at home this entire time. I have started looking at colleges again. I didn't think I would go back. And lately, college just seems like a task to get away from home. I'm too interested in a number of things like music, art, video games, and writing. I'm not exactly sure what direction to steer my life in. Any advice?
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Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: School?
You are closer to knowing what you want than you think from your statement (I'm too interested in a number of things like music, art, video games, and writing...). It seems as if what you are searching for is how you want to incorporate those things into your life's purpose.
Confusion and misdirection generally come from not knowing our life's purpose. At a time when I didn't know my life's purpose or meaning, I wandered from field to field. I switched all the time. I was seeking a feeling that I was in the right place and doing what I felt I was meant to do. I am wondering if this is your situation.
First off, there are many things you can do right now today. You can take a few different occupational tests, you can seek out a career coach, you can talk to your school advisor, and/or you can attend some schools on either a liberal arts degree path or customized path (research the schools that do this- there are some). You can also visit the government site BLS.gov to find out more about positions you have interest in, the route to securing them, job summaries, and work environment so that you may see if it suits you [Link](Mouse over link to see full location).
Ultimately, my advice is for you to do some inner work. Nothing really difficult, as a matter of fact it seems you've already somewhat started. 1) Sit and consider what you've been drawn to all of your life, what experiences you've had that have given you the most joy 2) Reflect on the happiest moments you've had and what you were doing when you had them 3) What are you curious about? 4) What is your natural gift? 5) What do you want your legacy to be? 6) What type of character or personality do you have - are you a free spirit, structured, etc..
Once you've answered those questions, write them down. Keep a journal also, randomly listing during the day what you enjoy. When you've gotten enough answers compiled, find out what the commonality is among them all. This will point you towards your life's meaning.
From there you will have many avenues to express it, but knowing what you enjoy and do not enjoy will help you to narrow it down substantially?
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Do not go back until you have one field in mind. Indecisiveness on multiple subjects has been statistically proven to not be as rewarding as having it narrowed down to one. Go work for a couple of years until you have it figured out. Seems like the best bet of the subjects you provided is the video games - you can use all subjects wrapped in one, and in my opinion, making video games would be more fun and profitable.
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Nobody can really tell you what to do. The best they could do is say what they did or did not do when given broadly similar options. Or what they think they would do. The only fixed and inevitable fact might be found in this statement. The true cost of anything we do is what we did not do instead. Think about that for a moment and you should see that we can apply it to any choices we ever make. So we need to project the probable future effects of the decision, taking special care to identify which aspects one will rule out if we choose it. Which could mutually co-exist? Which are mutually exclusive? Which choice has the highest probability of putting us where we want to be in the future? Which is likely to fail? The spontaneous 'gut reaction' cannot really be relied upon when all the evidence suggests it is likely to disappoint and fail. Ambitions and dreams are decidedly not the same thing. We have to prioritise. What are you willing to effectively 'give up' in order to pursue some alternative course?
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