My underclassmen friends, right now I speak to you.
This is one of the most beautiful times of your life.
Because you still have your youth? Because your classes have not yet escalated to the ‘research-paper-around-every-corner’ level? Because you have more than half of your Baylor experience ahead of you?
No. This time is special because you have the freedom to not know.
No, not on exams. (Sorry about that, we all have to know some answers.) You have the freedom to not know what you want to do with your life.
You’ve just arrived to campus, and no one expects you to have it all figured out. When you respond to ‘What’s your major?’ with confusion and uncertainty, you are met with encouragement and confidence that you will soon find your calling.
As a junior, that story begins to change. You are now a seasoned college student, expected to have an idea of what the future holds. By now, you have a major, and you may even have an idea of how you want to use it beyond your college years.
Any seniors out there? It gets a little tricky here. Sure, we have our majors. Now, that is not enough.
Here is how most conversations I have had in my short time as a senior have gone:
New Acquaintance: “What are you studying?”
Me: “Linguistics.”
New Acquaintance: *confused look* “And what are you going to do with that?”
We must have a plan for our future lives. I thought I had this one in the bag. I have a plan, more or less. I want to become an immigration lawyer, so the next relevant step is to go to law school.
If I had told you that as a freshman, you would be congratulating me on my foresight and impressed at how well I knew what I wanted to do. Those words coming from the mouth of a senior are met only with more questions.
“Oh, you are going to law school? Where are you going?”
Pay no attention to the face that that it is early September, and some of the law schools have not even opened their applications for the upcoming year. You, my dear senior, must have all of the answers now.
So enjoy, my young friends, this time where not having answers about your future is socially acceptable.
To those of you who are beginning to receive those questions for which you have no answers, listen to me now. You, too, can have the freedom to not know.
Yes, as we approach our graduation dates, we should intentionally search for things which interest us and for a direction to follow in our future lives. But who is to say we will find those things according to the timeline set before us? Maybe we will find our true passion as a junior and not realize how that passion will lead us to a career until three years after we graduate.
This does not mean we sit around and wait for something to find us. It means we keep our eyes open. Whether you are a freshman or a senior or an alumnus, be open to the possibility of finding your calling. Our lives can’t fit into boxes, and they will not follow a predetermined schedule. Today, I encourage you to give yourself the freedom to find your passion at your own pace.
Kara Blomquist is a senior BIC student majoring in linguistics.