As the semesters left until graduation decrease, the amount of pressure to know what you’re doing after increases. Every college student has dealt with the fear of the unknown, whether that be being afraid to go away to college because it’s something completely new or worrying about what the plan is after graduation when finding a real job is first priority.
With the new semester underway as well as a new decade, it’s normal that the feeling of uncertainty resurfaces because with the new year comes new goals, new decisions to overthink. More times than not, people need some sort of validation that they have made the right choice otherwise they begin to second guess their decision. Especially for college students, there is immense pressure and expectation to succeed and while that pressure is mostly put on by ourselves it’s still valid and can affect our daily lives if we let it.
In an ideal world, we would never stress and simply have faith that everything happens for a reason and for the most part I believe that is true, but to have the life you want it takes work and discipline. It can be very easy to spiral and psyche yourself out when you are thinking months and years in advance trying to figure out the right steps to take to be successful after college. Everyone always says college is the best four years of your life, which I don’t think is a fair statement because once again that puts this unnecessary pressure on students to make these years unforgettable. Going away to college will be fun regardless, but we as students are responsible to get good grades, work and still maintain a decent social life so the “fun” part of college can sometimes be put on the backburner.
While it’s not always easy to take it day by day it truly is the best way to not overwhelm yourself in college. With that said you should still try to plan ahead with homework because saving assignments till the last minute will overwhelm you even more. I work pretty well under pressure, but I get that’s not the case for most, so find whatever method works for you and stick to it. Being able to discipline yourself and finding a routine will help immensely in college because it relieves some of the uncertainty you may feel daily.
Not knowing exactly what you want to do after college is okay because while it may seem like an isolating feeling, more people than you think feel the same way. I have been stressed about the uncertainty of the future, but all I can control is what I do now, thus I continue to do my best in every aspect of life while trying to figure out what I can see myself doing after college. Even having declared a major, there’s always that follow up question that is what do you want to do with it. It’s understandable if you don’t have all the answers now, but it’s pivotal to have faith in yourself otherwise you can never expect anyone else to.
Overall we are all just trying to get a diploma at the end of this and have a good time until then, instead of stressing about the future every day we should spend more time appreciating the present because at some point in our life we were wishing to be where we are now.