What You'll Wish You'd Known

I am going to tackle the question most high school kids do not want to answer, especially seniors: What are you going to do for the rest of your life? That’s a hard one, hu? Most adults ask where you want to go to college, what do you want to study, etc. I mean we are only 15-18 year olds. We have our whole lives in front of us and we have to decide now? Through knowing what your options are, not disregarding motives and by being responsible, you will be able to accomplish many things in your life time.

“Know what the options are”. That is a good idea. When we were all younger we all wanted to either do what our parents did, a super hero, doctor, heck I wanted to be a professional ballerina. Kids have huge imaginations, knowing exactly what they want. For some reason, we are told to grow up and think logically. For our whole future depends on what choices we make.

 Don’t ever “underestimate your potential.” I recently took a special test to see what I was interested in. One of the options came up as occupational therapy. Now, many of you, like I was, are like what is that? Basically it’s helping people recuperate from physical or mental illnesses through helping them do basic things that you would do on a daily basis. I personally love to help people, so this naturally sounded like the perfect job for me. When I visited a few colleges, I learned that you have to work on real cadavers. (This is coming from the girl who couldn’t even dissect the pig in 10^th grade). But, that doesn’t mean I can’t achieve my goals of becoming an OT. That’s how that quote comes into play. If you set your mind to something, there’s nothing stopping you from accomplishing that particular objective!

“Don't disregard unseemly motivations.” If you have an interest that you want to pursue, do it! Don’t think negatively towards it until you try it out. “Curiosity turns work into play.” While you are doing something you love, it won’t seem like that crummy old lab your teacher wanted due Monday. It will be like a “mystery you are trying to solve.” Believe it or not, you find what you want to do by trial and error. One “Path can bend a lot more than you think.”  So why not make the best of it? Learn while having fun. School should be fun, not just some jail you go to everyday. “If you want to do good work, what you need is a great curiosity about a promising question.”

Now, what is the main difference between adults and high school students, without bringing age into the equation? “It's that adults take responsibility for themselves. Making a living is only a small part of it. Far more important is to take intellectual responsibility for oneself.” Being responsible is a huge component in what employers are looking for. Not only that, but your independent, reliable, and trustworthy. “School is like a day time job.” That got me thinking. My parents always told me that running was “my job”, but I never thought of school as my job either. Think about it. We go to a building from the hours of 8 to 3. We are doing work throughout the whole day. If you treat it like a day job, you will benefit most out of it, learning and experiencing more for your future.