Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Where are you headed with your life? Do you know? Have you even given it any thought? Many people have no idea in what direction they are going, or want to go. They drift through life randomly.
Some people, from a young age, are fortunate in having a clear picture of where they want to go. As they grow, all of their efforts are focused in moving in their desired direction. It's wonderful when a person has this kind of clarity. Unfortunately, this scenario tends to be the exception.
So, if you don't have a direction, don't feel bad, there is nothing wrong with you. You have a lot of company. It may be helpful to understand why so few people know where they want to go. It all starts when we are very young.
As children, we can't comprehend the finite aspect of life. We graduate high school at 18. Some people leave even earlier. We are then expected to pick a career, either by going directly to work, or by deciding what to study in college.
Realistically, at 18 years old, most of us have no idea about what really motivates us. Our understanding of the world is minimal. Our entire lives to this point have been spent acquiring new knowledge. Very little time, if any, has been spent analyzing what we actually want, like or enjoy.
How do we choose our careers? For some, it's parental pressure or following in the footsteps of one's mother or father. Others may fall into an occupation because of convenience. For example, a person may choose a job because of someone they know.
Perhaps an individual takes a job on a temporary basis and winds up there for many years. There are even situations where someone has no idea what they want to do and takes the first job they are offered.
Another reason people choose a particular career is for economic reasons. They have a specific income goal and look for whatever occupation will provide that level of compensation. Regardless of what line of work you are now in, did you pick it because it is something you want to do more than anything else, or for some other reason?
Family life is another area that people may give little thought to. Like a career, picking a spouse or significant other is often done at a young age. When we don't know much about ourselves, how can we expect to know what we want in another person? Even having children, or the number of kids to have, may be more due to happenstance than intentional direction.
Other areas of life can also lack direction. Where we live, what we do with our free time, and even the friends we have, might not be the result of specific intention. It's not surprising that many of these choices are also made when we are young.
There are many pitfalls to making so many major decisions before we have a lot of experiences under our belt. We don't fully appreciate the consequences of our choices. Since time seems limitless, we don't think it matters what we decide since we feel time is on our side.
Right now is a good time to assess your life and what direction you are headed. If you're on a path you are happy with, great. However, if you don't know, or are unhappy with, where you are going, you need to do an honest assessment of who you are and what you want.
Although you are older than you used to be, you will never be as young as you are today. It's never too late to change direction in order to have a satisfying and fulfilling life.
