Life Choices

Choosing what to do with your life is incredibly hard and can make graduating college a terrifying ordeal.  I've learned some things in the recent months while I was going through a panic-stricken-no-one-will-ever-want-me-what-do-I-even-want job hunt.  I know people say not to worry about it, you don't have to stay at your first job forever, just settle for a while, you will eventually find what you're meant to do, something will [just magically] turn up, blah blah blah.  None of that advice is particularly helpful, it tells you what to do, but not what you want to do.  Most of us grads aren't sure what we want, we just know we don't want to be miserable.  Here is my advice that I've gathered from a variety of reputable sources:

1. Pray about it - God has a purpose for us that only we can fulfill, if we devote our lives to him and let go of our own plans, he will gladly show us the way.
2. What did you want to do when you were ten?  Does that still interest you?  Is there anyway to work in that field or make that dream a reality?  Explore your options.
3. Make a list of reasons why you like to do the things you like.  Are motives or actions more important?  Think on that.
4. Ask other people what they think you're good at doing.  We are our own worst critics, sometimes we have a hard time discerning our own gifts.
5. Ask yourself what you would do if you could do anything.  It never hurts to put yourself out there.  Why not try for your dream?

We really don't have to know right now, but there is so much pressure on us to have our lives planned out that people seem insincere when they inform us of this fact.  It is indeed a fact.  We don't have to know, and in reality, we have know way of truly knowing what we're meant to do until we happen upon it.  Life wasn't made to be so stressful, it was made to be lived.