1 Staying Determined

Mikayla Cone

For many years, I struggled with not knowing what I wanted to do. I remember putting pressure on myself to discover what career path to pursue and what major to declare. At the time, it seemed as though everyone around me had a passion or life goal. For example, my best friend always wanted to be in the medical field and another close friend had an incredible talent of programming. I never blamed them, but I felt like an outsider and remember hoping that one day my “purpose” would come to me overnight. However, I would soon realize that would not be the case. Even after one year of college, I was still unsure of my interests and career plan. Ultimately, I put pressure on myself to declare a major, even if it wasn’t something I was particularly interested in at the time. After much consideration, I finally decided to pursue a degree in Business.

Initially, after starting the new semester, I was unsure if I had made the right choice. I would often feel generally uninterested toward my business courses. Then, one semester, I took classes for International Marketing and Tourism and quickly realized I enjoyed learning about international cultural studies and began considering a career within these fields. Additionally, around that time, I had been hired as an Elementary Teacher for an after-school enrichment program. The program allowed me to teach students courses about cultures from around the world and I soon realized that I also had a passion for teaching. With these newfound passions, I decided to pursue another interest of mine – learning languages. During my junior year of college, I took an Introductory Japanese class and instantly fell in love with the language. After graduating, I studied Japanese for two years and decided to test my ability by taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test and found out a couple months later that I had passed. Feeling encouraged, I decided to pursue my interests by finding a job that mixed all three of my passions: teaching, international culture, and language learning. Now, in a matter of months, I will be leaving America to teach English in Japan. A few years ago, I would have never considered working abroad, being a teacher, or pursuing a degree in business, but as time went on, I learned more about myself and happily discovered what I wanted to pursue.

In the end, it took me years to figure out what my interests were. Even if I didn’t discover my passions overnight, I learned more about myself as time went by. If you find yourself struggling to know what you are supposed to do for your career, I encourage you to not rush, take your time, and see what you do an do not care for. I believe that your twenties are a time to discover what “clicks” for yourself. If you find yourself not liking what you pursue – do not feel discouraged but try take things day-by-day. During my college career, I had five different jobs – each teaching me something about myself. I would recommend applying for internships, as this helped me learn what to look for and avoid in a workplace environment. Likewise, don’t be afraid to try new hobbies – it’s never too late to learn something new about yourself. In conclusion, I encourage you to stay determined and don’t lose hope when it comes to finding out your life goals and passions because it isn’t a matter of if you will, but when.