Like every other 18 year old is told to, I thought I had to leave and go to college right away to get ahead. I thought I'd just graduate, get my job, and be good. But it didn't really turn out that way. I went to my public state university, and while I'm glad I was able to get away from my hometown, I didn't really enjoy myself. Grant you, I met some of the best people I've ever had the privilege of meeting and made two lifelong friends, but I didn't really get anything else out of my one year away at school. I changed my major three times in that first year, and still had no idea what I wanted to do after college. I grew depressed because I felt like I was wasting my time and money and felt so lost. My grades were far from what I am capable of, and I ultimately made the decision to leave, and live on my own. I got a full-time job and an apartment and started over. It's now been almost three years.
All of my fellow classmates are seniors this year, and most of them are moving on to Grad School after this, and yes at times I feel a little left behind but I know that it was better for me to figure out myself and what I am comfortable with doing for the rest of my life. We expect children to immediately make the decision of choosing a career when they are in fact just children. With the cost of college rising every minute we're also asking these children to put themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt before they even have the chance to become apart of the working world and know if that is what they actually want to do for the rest of their lives.
If you're not happy doing what you're learning about while in college, don't waste your money and your mental health on something so empty. There are plenty of jobs that you can have that make good money and don't make you miserable. Find something you enjoy learning about. It's okay to take the time on something that is basically going to affect the kind of life you want. Instead of putting myself through the anxiety and stress and financial strain of going to college when I don't know what I want, I decided to take the time to figure it out. Granted, it has been longer than I had planned but out of that, I ended up moving across the country and starting my life completely over in some place that is making me so much happier than where I was. I've had the opportunity to really sit and think about what I want to do in my life, so now when I go back I'll be ready and I will give it my all.
Still not looking forward to all of that debt though...
man running in forestPhoto by 
