When you’re graduating high school and entering college, everyone always tells you, “Pick a major that allows you to follow your passion!” For a lot of people, that’s pretty easy. I know tons of people who are passionate about what they’re studying in college, and I’m happy they’ve found that passion. I also know a lot of people who have only been good at one thing and have decided to pursue that in college, which is all well and good too. But what about the people who are good at quite a few things, but not really passionate about any of them?
From what I’ve seen and the people I’ve met, not many people fall into this “passionless pit” as I like to call it. There are extremes on the scale of “how much you enjoy what you’re studying.” I’m not talking about the people who fall in the middle of it and have varying degrees of enjoyment. I’m talking about people who feel truly neutral about what they’re studying. For them, it’s a bit harder to choose what to do with the rest of their lives.
That’s how I used to feel about what I’m studying. I thought, “This is alright, but I really could be studying anything,” and it made me feel incredibly isolated from everyone else who cared so much or so little about what they were studying.
It’s not like trial and error. In fact, many other college students have to decide what you want to do. You decide to pursue one thing, and that’s okay. But you could also study another subject, probably be just as good at it, and feel the same way: “This is alright.”
It’s an incredibly limiting feeling to know that you could probably study anything you wanted and still feel the same way you feel now. I call it “limiting” because it stops you from moving forward in life. You could do anything, and because of that you do nothing, staying in the same place and feeling the same things with no chance for personal growth.
The only reason that feeling went away for me was because I got an internship. I can’t tell you how important it is for you to go out into your field and practice what you’re studying. That is the only way to tell if what you’re studying is worthwhile and will actually make you happy. In anyway you can, try to experience the major you’re studying. That way, you learn that all the work you’re putting in does have a purpose, and whether or not that purpose is for you.
Feature image courtesy Pixabay user Olichel.