I feel like everyone at some point has felt lost in their life when it comes to career aspirations. If you haven’t experienced that, I envy you. Some of my lowest points in my life revolved around the fact that I felt lost. With no career goals or any life aspirations I felt like I was living my life wandering aimlessly, going through the motions. Prior to the most recent semester of college, I was a computer science major but had no idea what I wanted to pursue within the field. I thought coding sucked and wanted nothing to do with it so I thought maybe cybersecurity would be right for me. Ah, how naive of me. Only recently have I discovered something that I am truly passionate about. I attribute this to the people I surround myself with because without them, I still think I would be lost.
Maybe it was just my ADHD, but I could never decide what career path I wanted to go down because I was always interested in so many different things. I would hyperfixate on certain topics. Biomechanics, Japanese language, and cybersecurity for example, and then one day just lose interest in the topic. How could I commit to a major when my interests always changed? Due to this, I felt lost for the longest time and fell into a cycle. Find a new topic, hopeful that it would stick and get this “AHA” moment where things would just click and decide that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.
This made me wonder, why is it so hard for people to find what they are passionate about? So many people work in places they hate and are unhappy working. Is this their job or is it their bosses, company, or something else? Maybe I was thinking too deeply about things. Is a job just a way to make ends meet or is a job something that brings you fulfillment. How do people choose where to work? Is it just for the money? Do they believe they will enjoy it?
Navigating aspirations can be confusing, and stressful but it’s important to remember to take things one day at a time. Set small goals for yourself to keep yourself from becoming disillusioned, and eventually with enough time I’m sure everyone will find their passion.