Trouble With Adults

This is for every kid who is confronted with that age-old question that every grown up asks (especially as they get closer and closer to the end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood) and can give no other answer besides a short pause and a long, Uuuhhh...

I've been there.

So, Tina! What are you going to do after high school? Where are you going to college? Do you have your license yet? When do you turn eighteen? Any boyfriends? Who are you going to be? What are you going to do????

Ahk!!!! STOP IT!

I DON'T KNOW!!!!!!!!



To help my fellow youths out with this dreadful dilemma, I encourage them to spin that question on its head.

I think when we are asked, "What are you going to do with your life?" we think we are being asked, "Where are you going to be ten years from now?"

That question is impossible. Beside the fact that our interpretation of the question is extremely far-reaching, we must realize that the second question is coming not from the inquisitive adult at all but from somewhere deeper...

It's coming from deep within ourselves. It's the question we are asking ourselves all the time.

"What am I going to do with my life?"

That is a question I will not, I cannot!, answer. 

That is a question you must answer for yourself.

The question I am going to answer is what to do with troublesome adults asking you what you're going to do with your life.

Like I said before, you have to spin the question on its head.

The question is not, cannot be!, "where are you going to be in ten years (or even tomorrow!)"

The question is... what are you doing with your time today to make tomorrow a little richer, a little brighter, a little more exciting?

It's ridiculous to try to plan for something you don't know yet. You don't know what your life's going to be until the story's already over and the book has been written.

What makes life so exciting is that we DON'T know what it's going to be. The joy of tomorrow is that it's an adventure we haven't got to yet. 

It's a present we still have to open.

It's something to look forward to.

That's what tomorrow is. 

So, when you're asked what you're going to do with your life, just tell them what you are already doing.

Tell them that you're on your way to find out what you're going to be.

Tell them that when you finally reach tomorrow, you will find that adventure you've been waiting for this whole time.

And, when you get back you'll tell them all about it.

And you'll send a postcard and all that nonsense.

Don't feel like you have to explain what you don't know. You'll be the fool in the end. 

"The best preparation for the future is the present well seen to, and the last deed done."   MacDonald.