I am young, have no clue what I want and am close to deciding my future

[Ampresus]

Hello everyone. I am getting close to choosing my future. And yes, I am desperate. When I looked at all the studies I could potentially follow and then looked at whatever I have learnt here... nothing lined up.

People talk here about business and succes. But also about creativity and culture. I personally only like the history and geography classes. Nothing else matters to me really. I told my teacher the other day, when he asked me about this, that I think I am going for economics & society (that is a study program). But I actually have no clue. Some of the study programs have art, something I hear a lot of times here. Atleast the part where people are creative. Creativity is good right? 

I might aswell buy that life purpose course. The thing is though: making such a huge payment will not be allowed by my parents. Atleast not right now. I already told my mom that I wanted to put money from my bank account on PayPal. I just wasn't clear about how much. 

I tried before to buy the book-list, but apparently without PayPal you are doomed. I tried MasterCard, but I guess not all options were there for my creditcard. Some where very different from what my creditcard had. 

Any advice is wanted.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Ampresus

[AdamDiC]

Hey man I feel your confusion. It’s ok to not know what you want, today’s society forces it upon the young and it’s a bit unnatural. The life purpose course is good, but don’t expect to find certainty there. It usually creates more confusion at the beginning then a birthling of clarity. I would recommend it though.

I also just wrote a post that might help you. 

Cheers.

[purerogue]

It is very complicated matter, take your time and research, just because you like something does not mean that job will let you do what you want and you will feel soulless by doing same thing over and over again, on other hand you might like it and do not get to attached in emotions when you research,because career might look fun on surface, but might be far from that when you actually get in  to it, especially if it is job advertising video, maybe get some part time jobs, to see what it is actually to work. 

 

[Space]

@Ampresus A few points that come to mind:

Make sure that you follow a path that is authentic for you, and you only. Really try to think for yourself, don't choose something for the sake of pleasing others, whether that be family, friends or even people on this forum. 

Understand that what you choose to do now is not set in stone for the rest of your life. I have gone in a completely different direction to what my degree was specialised in. And many others have done the same. You are in a position in history and live in a decent country where you basically have the freedom to do whatever you want, if you put your mind to it. 

Rather than thinking about what particular study program interests you the most, maybe think about what kind of field or industry sounds most exciting for you. There are many amazing new industries that are emerging and will continue to grow in the coming years like climate science/green energy, artificial intelligence, robotics, self-driving vehicles, psychedelics, biotechnology, virtual and augmented reality. All of which will be great opportunities to make a positive impact on the world. Or maybe just think about what kind of study programs will give you the broadest opportunities when you finish. It's likely that you will change your mind and have new ideas in the coming years. Personally I would say not to restrict yourself too much unless you're super committed to a subject.

I would also say that you absolutely need to choose something that is genuinely appealing to you and that you would actually enjoy studying it. Don't just go to university/college (whatever it is for you) for the sake of it. You don't have to be deeply passionate about the subject/subjects (you shouldn't expect to be either) but its important that you want to learn. I say this because otherwise you will have a lot difficulty when you're faced with the boring and grindy work, which is usually an inevitable part of higher education.

I should also mention that what you learn here is obviously not going to line up with what you can choose from. This stuff if way beyond most higher education courses.

Edited December 11, 2018 by Space

[Xin]

hey @Ampresus , I'm also a youngster here (15!) and I feel you

Id say just spend some time introspecting and reflecting on your values , goals and aspirations , and about how you could turn your passion into something that can make money and contribute to the world simultaneously 

and when I say some time I mean A LOT OF TIME 

Id also say take as many opportunities as you can and study a wide range of subjects and then gradually narrow it down to your top passions

I mean don't you have xmas holidays coming up to reflect? , in the UK we do

[BjarkeT]

i recommend reading so good they can't ignore you by cal newport. 

[Dan Arnautu]

@Ampresus Buy the LP course, stay at home for 1 year and then proceed accordingly. Don't figure yourself out while in a study program that you don't even really know you want to pursue on a shitload of money. It's unfair both for you and your parents.

Even if you do decide to go to college afterwards (which imo is the biggest waste of time and money as all the info you learn is gonna be obsolete given how fast the market is morphing right now), you can do it after 1 year of solid contemplation and introspection so you can go at it 200%.

[Equanimitize]

On 12/11/2018 at 3:00 PM, Ampresus said:

I might aswell buy that life purpose course. The thing is though: making such a huge payment will not be allowed by my parents. Atleast not right now. I already told my mom that I wanted to put money from my bank account on PayPal. I just wasn't clear about how much. 

I tried before to buy the book-list, but apparently without PayPal you are doomed. I tried MasterCard, but I guess not all options were there for my creditcard. Some where very different from what my creditcard had. 

Don't allow yourself to give yourself excuses. Nothing is stopping you from getting where you need to go, you put an artificial barrier in front of you-realize this and continue on. 

On 12/11/2018 at 3:00 PM, Ampresus said:

Hello everyone. I am getting close to choosing my future. And yes, I am desperate.

Why desperation, give yourself room to flow and grow. "Choosing" and "desperate" are two words you have to be careful with, you don't want to put yourself in some compartmentalized box where you have to work twice as hard to get out of just because of societal expectations. 

[TheAvatarState]

@Ampresus 1. You're feeling desperate. 2. You're about to make a huge life decision. 

Uh. RED FLAGS!! NO!! STOP!! Understand that you are not in a position to make the best choices right now. Seriously consider if you NEED to make a choice right now... And, of course, the answer is no.

I know how much pressure family and society put on you to choose a career path. Well, they are simply misguided and dogmatic. You obviously need to take a chill pill, explore the world, do personal development, take the life purpose course, and really take the time to map out your psyche, then map out your best options accordingly. 

If you were to take off a year, let's say, and really focus on yourself, balls to the wall, I guarantee you that would be worth more than any college education. It's not fair to yourself or your family to waste time and money doing studies in something you're not passionate in. Your studies must be aligned with your life purpose, and if you don't know what it is yet, then you're CERTAINLY not going to find that in formal school... 

[d0ornokey]

@Dan Arnautu +1 

To OP - you need more clarity before you make a huge commitment like that

[EternalForest]

What you think you want mentally and what you actually enjoy doing in practice can be very different things, especially if you haven't found your purpose yet. I'd explore a few things and figure out what it is that you enjoy doing in practice more than anything else, for you that may be studying to become a historian. Or it might be something else. But ultimately you must be true to yourself.