I was asked to choose an article from Huffington post about life after college.

I came
across an article called, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" by Jodi Weiss. I chose
this article because the title did not have any magic number for discovering myself. Personally, a
title that says, "heres 3 things to help you succeed after college" enrages me. Numbers thrown
out like that are arbitrary. Most of those articles are written in a format that seems relatable,
when they are mostly one (unknown) persons account on the subject. An article like my example
above only primes our brains to set a boundary for ways to succeed after college. So, I looked for
a story or something research-based. I came across, "What do you want to be when you grow
up?" and it hit home with me for many reasons.

The author lives in the world of self-improvement. The author reinforced my agreement
that the article's title is the worst question in this world, especially when I do not know what I
want to do and most people ask me unconscious of their condescending tone. I loved how the
author mentioned questions that have to do less with picking and choosing and more about what
you actually enjoy doing. Examples are: What do you love to do?, What makes you happy?,
What do you care about regardless of rewards? In all honestly, I wish I heard more of these
questions when I was younger, like the author mentioned. Maybe I would not be as disillusioned
as I am now. I try my best to work on myself by working with others. LUC has helped me ask
the questions posed by the author early on. When I have asked younger people these questions,
the responses are interestingly on each side of the spectrum. Either no thought has been given
about about personal happiness, love, or motivation whilst absence of rewards, or a response so
profound that my jaw drops at their explanation to each question.

My internship has tested my thought process about life after college, in a good way. I ask
myself a lot if the non-profit lifestyle is for me. Also, I ask if I am devoted enough to work in an
animal rescue full-time. I honestly go back and forth. In a funny way, my internship made it
harder to choose what I want to do after graduation.

My fear is that I let myself feel like I failed others. I have come to accept at this point that
I do care what people think about me. I was raised that way. It has its pros and cons. However,
like the article states, what I want to do takes time to figure out. It can happen suddenly or evolve
through my journey of life. When I continue to be myself, I will have a better answer for the
dreaded question.

My one word of advice for an incoming Loyola student: Engage