Trying to think of an article subject has daunted me for a few weeks now.
A plethora of questions weighed down my brain until I realized I needed to start writing; even if I wasn’t sure where this would end up, I needed to begin. Then through my confusion, brainstorming, and quite honestly, procrastination, I found my topic: being unsure.
As I prepare to graduate from James Madison University in less than two weeks, I am sure about one thing…how unsure I am. I am unsure about this article, I am unsure about my post-graduation life, I am unsure about my feelings towards leaving this lovely place I have called home for the past four years. But as much as it can feel like something to be ashamed of or embarrassed by, I will scream it.
And you know what? This is one of the few times in my life where my uncertainty, my “unsure-ness” isn’t completely frightening. Yes, it is terrifying at times but I am so young. I have years ahead of me to be sure and certain in my choices and decisions. But for now, I choose to be unsure. I challenge you to be unsure as well. It is liberating, exhilarating and dare I say, empowering.
I would argue the majority of students in my place (dreading graduation that is) are unsure. We don’t know what we are doing once we graduate, we don’t know what we are doing in five years, let alone five months or even in five minutes. But I have come to find the beauty in that. We can finally make our own paths, our own plans, and our own journeys. We don’t have required courses to take in the fall or papers to submit by a specific date. For now, we have a slight glimpse of freedom.
To anyone going through this stage in life, ‘the stage of being unsure’, bask in all this moment has to offer. Find your passion in life—the thing that drives you, motivates you, gets you up in the morning (besides that big ole’ cup of coffee) and go after it. Chase it. Do it. Dream it. Achieve it. Until you find this passion, embrace your ‘unsureness’ because you have the rest of your life to be sure.
Image by Madeleine Bloxam