adventures of a typical high school student

Good morning everyone!

I know we all want to find that one thing (or multiple things!) that ignites a fire in our soul and makes everything fall into place; everyone wants to have their thing. I’ve personally struggled with finding that “thing” myself, and this year I’m really working on exploring different activities in hopes of finding it. However, in my own search, I’ve realized that finding your specific passion isn’t always the right thing to strive for. Sure, it’s important to do what you love, but why put a label on it?

When we’re young, it’s acceptable to dabble in different activities, even if your path becomes a bit messy. You’re just exploring, and you have plenty of time to do so until you eventually need to commit to something. We’re told we need to commit because it demonstrates good character to stick with something, because we’ll get better at it with practice, because it will look good on college applications. By the time you get to high school, all of a sudden we’re told it’s good to close yourself off to all the other options and enrichment out there to start stacking your resumé in one particular job field.

But does this really do us any good? Coloring inside the lines, staying inside the box, whatever analogy you want to use; none of these things ever let a person’s true ideas and personality shine. Even if we’re nearing adulthood, we still have a little bit of time as kids left. It’s important to take advantage of that and continue adventuring, continuing to be curious and see where it takes us, continuing to do all the things that make us ourselves and make kids…well, kids.

Don’t take this as me saying you shouldn’t pursue your passion- if you already know what it is, kudos to you! I’m jealous. Obviously get involved with the things you enjoy and continue to go deeper with those activities as you gain more experience and discover if you really love them, but there’s no need to pressure yourself. You don’t have to label yourself with a certain career before you even reach college and start considering majors, and you don’t have to know what you want to do just yet.

Also, the things I stated above about committing to activities (that it looks good on college apps, etc.) ARE true. However, that doesn’t mean you need to consider those factors above your own happiness. Pursuing the things you love, even if you’re not nationally ranked in them or you haven’t been involved in those activities for all of high school, is what will bring you to the college/place in life where you’re truly meant to be. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

-Brooke

(P.S. I’ve decided to cut out my repetitive closings that I’ve had on every post before this one! Everything I would say in them still holds true (hope you enjoyed, I’m here to ask questions and take requests, blah blah blah..), but I figured you get it by now.)