„What are you going to do with your life? It’s a surprise!“

I see quotes like this all over social media these days, especially from people that are about 16-19 years old. There are also lots of young people writing about how they worry about not knowing what to do with their life like if they should go to college, what profession they should get etc.

Why am I writing this? Because I think it’s funny in a way.. When I was that age I was the same. I had absolutely no idea. After school I was unsure if I should go studying or learning a job. So one year I did nothing but jobbing a little until I finally made an apprenticeship. And now, almost 10 years later, I actually still don’t really have a plan for my life. So I’d love to tell all those young people that they shouldn’t worry so much, everything will just work out somehow.

And you know what? This is totally okay! I think there’s too much pressure from the outside that you should exactly know what you want to do and how you want your life to look like in 20 years.

I know, it’s easily said not to worry so much about this. I still worry as well, a lot to be honest. But it’s true, it doesn’t help. Life just happens and it’s all a big adventure in which anything could happen. Some weeks back for example I was totally desperate about a situation and now everything changed so much and doors opened that I didn’t even know existed. So why did I worry? I should have just trusted in the universe to guide me and to just go with the flow.

I really decided to work on my mindset. I don’t want to worry about the future so much anymore, I don’t want to try to make fixed plans just to please people, to be able to give them an answer to their „what do you want to do in 10 years, what about children, what about this and that,..“. Those questions always put so much pressure on me because they make me feel like it’s a bad thing not to know the answer, especially when they come from people that are very close to you and that you don’t want to disappoint. Most people around me seem to have this plan to like marry soon, buy a house, get a child,.. But seriously? I don’t even want this. I don’t want a life of which the script is already written just to please others when it’s me who has to live it. And in the end life just happens anyway, no matter how much you plan, and I will wait to see how everything turns out. Meanwhile I’ll live my life.

And this does not mean that I don’t make any plans. Like you probably know I plan (there it is again, haha) on travelling quite a little in the future and I also talk about which countries I’d like to see. But I don’t want to plan everything too much. I often catch myself thinking about when I’d like to go, when to be in which country, how much time to spend in each and everything but well.. I don’t actually think this is the best thing to do at this point in my life as it will take quite some time until it’s all possible and who knows what will happen during this time? I sure don’t. So making plans doesn’t really make sense. Eventually everything will turn out differently from what I planned anyway, I guess. So yes, dreaming big and making some rough plans is great, I think. To get motivation, work towards what you dream of and to be positive about your life in general because you know what you’d love to do and see some kind of sense. But I really need to stop making concrete plans in my mind and to try to control every situation and every step I make.

It can be a great thing just to jump without a safety net to catch you and to experience how wings will grow to save you.