Dear Ash,

I am at an all-ends here. I do not know what I am passionate about, and I can’t picture myself doing anything as a career. I need to figure out my major soon because right now I am just wasting my parent’s money. Can you please give me advice on how I can figure out what to do with my life? I want to do something I am passionate about, but I don’t even know what that something is.

– Anonymous

Well well well. I think every single person in their lives (besides the weird, but lucky ones who figure out what they want to do at age four) struggle with this question. They repeatedly ask themselves “What on earth am I supposed to do with my life?”

They look up career tests and they only find themselves unsatisfied with the results. They ask others around them what they think they would be good at, and they are left only to convince themselves to do what others would like for them to do.

So then, they go to school and major in what others want them to major in or what will make them a lot of money and they begin to feel completely bored and uninterested in all of their classes and they look at themselves in the mirror at the end of the day and say “What am I doing with my life?”

Everybody feels this way. You are not alone.

But the beauty behind this is that there is a drive here. You want to know. Because there is a drive, we know the engine is rolling, and because we know that the engine is rolling means that there is a destination. Maybe the engine will lead you to some place you would have never even expected, or maybe it will lead you to a place that you knew about all along.

So how do we get to that destination?

First, you have to look at your interests. For God’s sake, look at what you like to do. What fascinated you when you were a little kid? Was it building things? Was it picking up a pen and paper and telling a story? Was it writing on a chalkboard, teaching your pets or was it stealing your Mom’s tweezers just so you could dissect something?

Think about this first, what you genuinely like to do. Chances are, it is a profession. And if it isn’t (I will be very surprised), you can find a way to make it one.

And I highly advise you when looking at your interest to not think of careers. Careers are just boxes that your interests have a place in. So focus on the interests first, and the career will come after.

(For example, nobody just wakes up and says “I want to be an engineer.” They see that they love to build things and they are fascinated by making things better. Then, and only then, will they even know what being an engineer really means.)

Find something you love so much that you would do it for free. And then if you get really good at it, you can get paid for it. That is the focus here.

After your interests are found, do some digging. Research what correlates with those interests, even buy some books from the library. Dive deep into what you love. You will actually enjoy this part, and it will be a stepping stone to getting you where you want to be.

Do what you love. I say this not so you can make a ton of money, or live in a nice big house when you are older (even though I think that is a plus), but so you can live a life full of satisfaction and contentment. You were made to do something special. God gave you qualities and passions that are unique to you, and if you ignore those, you are just doing a disservice to the world around you.

Utilize the gifts and passions God has given you. I promise you will not regret it.

Xoxo,

Ash