I was talking to my grandfather the other day, and he said something along the lines of "I'm so proud of you because unlike most of the hooligans your age, you seem to know what you want to do with your life" which in my mind equates to: "you have a path, you are focused, this is good". After I heard this (and whenever I hear something similar) I always look at my life and my goals for the future and compliment myself on the achievements I have made and the ones I will continue to make, but usually later on that night I wonder if being focused is all its cracked up to be.
Contrary to my grandfather's beliefs, I am not focused. I started my college career as a Zoology major with intentions of becoming a vet. A year later I no longer wanted to be a vet and started my college career at Rutgers undecided but I thought that a double major in Psychology and Evolutionary Anthropology sounded like a good idea so I took classes in those subjects. Most recently, I have declared myself as an Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources major and I have a feeling that I am going to pursue academia for quite a long time. I did not change my major because i lost interest in the other ones, I changed it because I liked them all so much that I wanted to do something that combined everything. Which, as it turns out, is very hard to do in only 4 short years.
I actually had a little break down the other week trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to major in, and very logically decided that the thing I want most out of life is to be happy. The things that make me the most happy are animals and nature. Therefore I need to focus my career on animals and nature and somehow tie in my love of evolution and behavior.
A wise person once told me that if I have to plan my life (which I do) to do it in pencil, so that I can go back and alter it when necessary. I'm glad that I took that advice and was able to erase where I wanted to. I know that in life I am going to continue to lose my focus, but I also know that it's okay to do that, because when I don't have a focus I end up experiencing more of life and more of myself in the process.
So keep your plans, but try to adventure beyond them, because you just might learn something about yourself that you never thought you would know.
Also, this is a link to my favorite inspirational video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgzHrI61CuM&feature=related just because I am feeling sappy =]
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