At this point in your young adult life you’ve probably felt like you have no idea what you’re doing with your life at least once. I know I have. When I transferred home my sophomore I felt completely lost and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve completely figured it out yet. It is a difficult process to figure out what you want to do with your life, but you can definitely do it! There is no cut and dry answer to figuring these things out but there are a few things you can do to help figure out what to do with your life.
Dream About Your Five Year Plan
The first thing you can do to help you figure out what you want to do with your life is to dream about your future. Create a plan that details exactly what you want your life to look like. Describe your financial goals, family dreams, and other lifestyle aspirations you have. Think about how you want to feel in the future. I have found that getting specific on what I want my house to look like and how many hours a week I would like to work help me visualize what I want to do with my life.
Develop A Mission Statement
Having a mission statement might seem kind of silly or a little too official. However, I promise you that if you know how you want to live it’ll help you figure out what you want to do with your life. If you care clear on how you see yourself and what you stand for.
Stop Comparing Yourself
Something that I struggle with daily is comparing myself to others. Odds are you have seen people on social media and in real life post talking about their new jobs, relationships, and travel plans. This is probably the biggest contributor to feeling like you aren’t where you should be and that you don’t know what to do with your life.
But comparison is the thief of joy and will only make you feel worse. The most powerful statement I’ve heard about comparison is that you can’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle. You have spent too long working hard for what you want in life and comparison will only make you second guess the path you’re on. Now that you have a 5 year plan and a mission statement, there is nothing standing in your way. Stay focused on your goals and believe that you can accomplish anything, and you will.
Forget About What You Think You Should Do
There are a lot of things we think we should do in life. Wake up early, dress a certain way, be interested in certain things, get married by a certain age, have a career right out of college. I’m here to tell you that you need to stop living your life based off of these things. Having these expectations of yourself will only make you feel inadequate if you don’t live up to them.
Maybe you don’t even realize you’re placing such expectations on your life. They have a way of sneaking in. But heres the thing: they can cause guilt if you don’t live up to them. So let go of what you think you should do and start living how you want to. Focus on the present and making yourself as happy as possible and that will help you figure out what to do with the rest of your life.
Find Some Hobbies
Finding new hobbies is a great way to experiment and figure out what your true passions are. Try out some things you wouldn’t typically do and you might be surprised. When I transferred home from college my sophomore year, I knew I needed to find some new hobbies. The first one I turned to was blogging. Now, a year later, I love getting to blog and help others navigate young adulthood as I do! You never know, your new hobby could become your new purpose in life. Use trial and error and learn about what you love or what you aren’t too fond of.
Put Yourself Out There
Now that you have done some planning and soul searching, it’s time to put yourself out there. This can be one of the scariest parts of finding yourself. Putting yourself out there makes you realize that theres a chance of failure or embarrassment. But it also gives you the chance to succeed and find out what you want to do with your life. The only way to fail is to never try (cheesy, I know). Don’t let fear keep you from a major breakthrough that could lead to finding yourself. Don’t allow limiting beliefs in and you might just surprise yourself with what you can do!
Invest In Yourself
Being willing to invest in yourself is the absolute key to figuring out what you want to do with your life. You can’t be afraid to invest time, money, and energy into yourself. One of my favorite ways to invest in myself is through self care. If there is a class you have been wanting to take, do it! I am soooooo frugal when it comes to spending money on myself. But even I have to admit that it can be very beneficial.
Most importantly, remember that you are not alone on this journey. One of the main reasons I started blogging (besides as a new hobby) was because I felt alone and didn’t want others to feel the same way. So here’s to navigating the honest struggles of young adulthood together. If you ever need someone to talk to, you can always reach out to me on any of my social media or here.
