It’s quite alright to be unsure about the future

January 22nd 2017

Dear me,

I’m a worrier. Always have been, but recently I seem to have been worrying more than ever. And most of them seem to be directed at my future. “Am I doing the right thing?” pops up in my head almost daily now.

Typically untraditionally I’ve decided to go down the apprenticeship route instead of university. However when I see snapchats and instagrams of all of my friends at uni a small part of me feels left out and unsure of myself. I’ve been feeling lost, unsure of the direction my life is going in. BUT slowly I’ve realised that it’s okay for me to feel like this. It’s something that happens to us all (I like to think of it as character building). And at the moment we’ve got all the time we could ever hope for.

I really do know not knowing “what you want to be when you grow up” is fine just as long as I find something that I enjoy, it doesn’t matter what it is because it seems that now-a-days you can almost always make a career out of what you enjoy. Where there’s a will there’s a way. But (and this is a message to anyone else reading this) if you’re currently stuck in a role that no longer makes you happy then you should and must change it. Find something that intrigues, excites and challenges you, as nothing is fixed in stone if you don’t want it to be. On the other hand, however, you must try to remember to give things a chance. (I’m speaking from experience here as I tend to want to head for the hills as soon as I start something new). Don’t feel disheartened if you don’t enjoy the first couple of weeks of something new. Something massive has just changed, and it takes time for our minds to catch up with the rest of us. So do try and stick at things for a substantial period of time, no matter how much you hate it at first, because it could end up being the best thing that’s ever happened to you.

But if, like me, you’re unsure what route you’d like to go down, please try not to worry. As cringe as it sounds: the universe does have a way of making things all work out in the end. I promise. Of course it definitely won’t look like it now, but just give it time. A perfect example is secondary school and sixth form/college! Those 7 years seemed like the longest when we were living them and many many things happened in them, but they’ve taken you to where you are now and actually didn’t they go fast?!

So basically the point that I’m trying to make here is: it’s okay to be unsure. In fact I think I encourage it, because it means that you have lots to discover, lots more to find out about yourself. The future seems big and scary, and I can’t promise you or myself that it won’t be, but I do think that things will all be okay in the end. No matter if you have a cast iron idea about what you want to “be” or if you have no f***ing idea, things will be okay. Take everyday as it comes and before you know it you’ll be exactly where you need to be.

Yours faithfully,

Me.

p.s. I thought the photo at the top (taken by yours truly) would be a nice reminder to try and stay as untroubled as is humanly possible