Imagine a bridge spanning across a body of water: one end of the bridge is connected to one piece of land while the opposite end is anchored to another, with a stretch of roadway running over the water. This is exactly how I feel right now: one piece of me still very much connected to my college and doesn't want to leave, while the other piece of me is being called by my future. The rest of my heart is left floating in the middle.
Although I still have several months left to enjoy the last of my college life, I also want to make sure that I don't get so caught up in the emotion of it all that I forget everything that I've learned here beyond the classroom. That's why I want to share some of my top lessons here, so that future college students don't have to endure as painful a learning process as I did — everyone will go through their own struggles, but if my insight can save even an ounce of trouble, then That University Girl's function is fulfilled. So without further ado, my first lesson to impart is all about finding your purpose.
To say "Find your purpose" is like saying "Go find a purple unicorn" — it sounds like some magical thing that you're not sure exists. But I can assure you, your purpose exists. I used to struggle with this very thing when I was near the end of my time in high school and preparing for college. I had no idea what I thought I'd want to study, and I certainly did not have a clue what career I hoped to pursue. But thanks to a very wise person in my life (my mother, who else?), I was able to solve this mystery once and for all. She told me:
"Look for where your talents and your passions intersect. At that intersection, you will find your purpose."While this sounds a bit formulaic, at the very least, it spurred me to start taking stock of what I was good at and what I enjoyed. Before I even noticed, my mom saw within me a strength in writing. At first, I didn't think anything of it, but then I started to notice that I never had much trouble writing; whether I had to complete short essays or lengthy research papers, writing them wasn't a trying process for me, and I would sometimes grow very excited if I drew an exciting conclusion or made an interesting connection. After winning an award for my writing at the end of my junior year of high school, I was convinced that maybe, just maybe, there was something to my penchant for writing.
After discovering this, I next had to take note of my passions and interests, which were many. From fashion to politics to music to sports, my interests were (and still are) diverse and expansive. So I knew I had a knack for writing and that I had all of these varying interests, so now what? What do I do with all of them?
This is where it's important to talk to people who know you very, very well and someone whose input you value. For me, I talked this over with my mother, someone who knows me better than I know myself and can often foresee things for me that I cannot yet conceptualize. We started talking about ways to combine these talents and interests, listing off fashion public relations, musician/celebrity management and wedding planning as potential career paths. None of these appealed to me, so we kept going. My mom mentioned entertainment journalism, and while I was hesitant at first, I could never stop thinking about its potential.
Once I started college, I declared a major in film and television production, and although it turned out to not concentrate as much on journalism as I wanted, I still felt compelled to pursue journalism, to give it a try. I changed majors, and enrolled in my first journalism course in the spring semester of my freshman year. And the rest, as they say, is history — writing in a journalistic format was, as my professor said at the time, something that seemed to be second nature to me. And that's when I knew I had only scratched the surface of my purpose.
So let's review: take note of your talents and your interests, then discuss them over with someone whose opinion you trust and who knows you well. Once you land on a option that sounds appealing to you, test it out. But then, how do you know if it's right for you? This might just be the most important part of this entire article:
It has to continually excite you. It has to challenge you, but also not feel like "work." It has to teach you, but also bring out and enhance your natural abilities. It has to make you feel like there is nothing else in the world you'd rather be doing. It has to feel like home.This is how I knew that journalism was right for me. I felt comfortable writing and reporting. It felt like trying on my own skin and walking around in it — familiar, natural. But it also felt exciting and invigorating, and I can promise you that three years later, I am still enamored by this field and this craft.
Finding your purpose is by no means easy, but once you find it, you will know. It will feel a little like falling in love: you fall slowly, gradually and then one day, you realize you can't stop thinking about it.
When that day comes, you will have found your purpose, my friend.
XO,
That University Girl
No comments:
Post a Comment