A Message To Grads And All Those Stressed About What They Want to "Be"

-->
Remember when you were 5 it was so easy to know what you wanted to be when you grew up?
Everyone wanted to be a firefighter, and athlete… or possibly a teacher.
Firefighters and athletes were cool. Teacher was the only job we were really sure we knew what they did cause we saw them everyday.

It’s graduation season and it brings lots of excitement for grads of all ages.
It also brings a lot of stress. Grade 8’s going off to high school have to choose what courses they, take and they are told it will affect their openings for careers.. Grade 12’s head off to post secondary, terrified that they are not surer what they really want to “be” yet. And post secondary grads desperately looking for jobs… slowly realizing that they may have to work in less than ideal circumstances before getting their dream job. (like that really exists).

I’m 35.. and I’m still not convinced I know what I want to do.
I’ve tried youth worker, police officer, counselor and pastor.
I love what I do.
In fact I’ve loved just about everything I’ve done.
Will I spend then next 30 years working in the same role I have now?
Highly unlikely.
My job will develop, and change and so will I.

If I could give one message to all the grads this year it would be don’t stress out.
No 20 year old needs to know what they want to be when they grow up.

In fact none of us ever needs to make that decision.
Your education and experiences direct you towards a job. At least a field of jobs..
That job will change - probably within a few years.
You may change roles within the same field. The kind of work that job needs to do might change. Or you may just decide to change career fields altogether.

Trust me – it’s going to happen.
And then happen again 5 years later.
And then probably again.

Part of what makes life so enjoyable is that it is never static.
The world is always changing, and we change along with it.
We grow new skills, new passions.
And so we change.

So keep dreaming the firefighter dream.
Then go get a job. Gain some experience. Discover yourself.
Most of us probably don’t really want to “grow up” anyways.

Comments