For all the other wanderers out there....
I mean it.
It's OK. You are going to be OK.
Society is going to tell you that you are not on track. And your family is going to worry. And people may give you funny looks and shake their heads and wonder what the heck you're doing.
And you are going to start to worry too.
You will worry that maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with you. You will wonder desperately why you can't get things figured out. You may feel guilty, like somehow you have failed. And you will search frantically for a plan, something to cling to, something to make you feel as if you might have an idea where you are headed. Eventually, you will resort to drastic measures. Maybe you'll quit your job, maybe you'll spend a spring planting trees in Canada, maybe you'll move to a foreign country, maybe you'll become a wandering hippie or run away and join the circus.
You will meditate. You will read everything. You will travel. You will try yoga. You will do things that scare you. You will be poor.
And eventually, somewhere in your search, you will realize, you are in love with your life. You are in love with every second of every minute of every day of it. You are in love with the challenges, with the new experiences, with learning new things, and you could not imagine settling for a life or a career that does not bring you the happiness you feel now. You won't have it all figured out yet, but you'll know what your life could be like.
And you will realize that it's ok that you're life isn't following the plan you laid out when you were 18, because it's going to be better than that plan, way better.
And you might not know exactly how, but things will work out in the end.
Society is going to tell you that you need a 401K and should find a spouse before 30. People are going to say that you that you need to start thinking about benefits and a retirement plan. Your family may wonder when you are going to settle down and start a family of your own. Your levels of "responsibility" may be questioned.
But don't worry.
Your success in life does not depend on those things.
When has it ever been a good idea to measure anything by society's standards?
Live by your own standards.
Follow your heart.
Don't settle for anything less than the best for your life.
And if it takes a while for you to find where you are truly meant to be, don't worry. Keep growing, keep learning, keep loving. Those are the measures of true success.
I mean it.
It's OK. You are going to be OK.
Society is going to tell you that you are not on track. And your family is going to worry. And people may give you funny looks and shake their heads and wonder what the heck you're doing.
And you are going to start to worry too.
You will worry that maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with you. You will wonder desperately why you can't get things figured out. You may feel guilty, like somehow you have failed. And you will search frantically for a plan, something to cling to, something to make you feel as if you might have an idea where you are headed. Eventually, you will resort to drastic measures. Maybe you'll quit your job, maybe you'll spend a spring planting trees in Canada, maybe you'll move to a foreign country, maybe you'll become a wandering hippie or run away and join the circus.
You will meditate. You will read everything. You will travel. You will try yoga. You will do things that scare you. You will be poor.
And eventually, somewhere in your search, you will realize, you are in love with your life. You are in love with every second of every minute of every day of it. You are in love with the challenges, with the new experiences, with learning new things, and you could not imagine settling for a life or a career that does not bring you the happiness you feel now. You won't have it all figured out yet, but you'll know what your life could be like.
And you will realize that it's ok that you're life isn't following the plan you laid out when you were 18, because it's going to be better than that plan, way better.
And you might not know exactly how, but things will work out in the end.
Society is going to tell you that you need a 401K and should find a spouse before 30. People are going to say that you that you need to start thinking about benefits and a retirement plan. Your family may wonder when you are going to settle down and start a family of your own. Your levels of "responsibility" may be questioned.
But don't worry.
Your success in life does not depend on those things.
When has it ever been a good idea to measure anything by society's standards?
Live by your own standards.
Follow your heart.
Don't settle for anything less than the best for your life.
And if it takes a while for you to find where you are truly meant to be, don't worry. Keep growing, keep learning, keep loving. Those are the measures of true success.
