Preeti Byanjankar

“If you want to achieve anything special in your life you have to work, work, and then work some more.” – David Beckham.
Everyone tells us to follow our dream. We should indeed work more to achieve our dream. But, what if you don’t know what your dream is? What if you don’t know your purpose in life? So what do you do?
Since a very young age, we have been hearing: “Follow your dreams!”, “Find your Passion!, “ “Do what you love!”. We are asked as a child what do you want to be when you grow up? Like, what we want to be later has become our identity now! And the answers to all these questions are typically career choices like doctors, pilots, and so on. However, that is the expected answer and an acceptable answer. You don’t hear them say- I want to be a happy person.

Later at some point, our interest changes and we become less confident answering the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” As we grow up, we change the answer to – “ Uhhh…I don’t know yet”. We focus on following dreams but the problem arises when you realise that you don’t know what your dream is. While your batch mates are either finding jobs with an attractive salary, starting up their own or joining a family business. You also know that there are lots of Jobseekers and Mero Jobs are hiring but you don’t know your skills and interest.
This is stressful but also it is not worse. If you have found your dream job and it fulfils your desires and aspirations and also gives you purpose in life then that is a great achievement. Keep doing it. But life looks different from every single person to person. Sometimes it is completely healthy to not know your dream job yet. And here are some reasons why.

Think About Life Path
Not knowing your dream job is also a kind of advantage. If you have your dream job, you will be focusing only on a single career instead of figuring out your life around. Possibly, you might discover what you want in your life including the type of job that will help you achieve those goals. Or you might find out your hidden, unique talents.
Do you want to live in a big city with lots of people or in a cabin in the woods? Would you rather spend your day outside or you like to spend it inside with a cup of coffee? Is it more important for you to top the university or do you want to celebrate your 2.71 GPA? Would you get happier with your travel experiences or bigger paychecks? Figuring out your priorities can help you see where your career can fit. After all, your job is just a part of your life and not your whole life.

Get Time to Explore
After university graduation, at the farewell party, everyone asks you what are you doing next? You feel like all your friends are ready to jump right onto the track for their careers. It is normal to feel like you are the only one there who is without a job or plans. But this feeling can be a good thing. Sometimes when you throw yourself into a job, it can be pretty difficult to adapt. Especially when it is not the job you are interested in.
It will lose your confidence even more and you will start looking for a job where you fit in. In the process of concentrating fully on one career path, you might not see the opportunities that arise. Take advantage of your uncertainty. Get out of your comfort zone. Meet people from a completely different path. You will find lots of new experiences and a better understanding of yourself.

You Can Try Out Different Jobs
Some people figure out their dream job at a very young age while some people are still figuring it out until they are in their late 40s. But while you are figuring out your dream job you will need some paychecks. You might need to take the job although it is not your dream job. It could be heck, pressuring also might be a nightmare. According to the poll conducted by Gallup, 85% of people are not happy in their jobs. Remember, sometimes the job is just a job that gets you food on the table. It might also help you enlighten yourself.
It can be an opportunity to note down what it is you are looking for in a job or what is the factor that you want to avoid in your future job. From my personal job experience, I learned how pressuring some work-place can be and how friendly some co-workers can be. It was also fun to gossip about the manager’s love life and it can turn a terrible mood into a fun one. So, enjoy every opportunity. Try out different jobs until you figure out “the one” job for you. At the end of the day, you will find a passion that sticks.

Allow Yourself to Be Yourself
There is no rule that you must be doing something productive every day. Enjoy every moment, also don’t live each day like it’s your last. If you are having a good time re-watching your favourite show then keep doing it. Sometimes it is necessary to allow yourself to be bored. That is how you find out your creativity.
Our society has considered purpose and dream jobs tend to go hand in hand. If you can find a career that gives you purpose or feels like it gets a purpose in life and makes money from it; then that is life and I don’t think that has to be true for everyone. We need to normalise people not having a dream job.

Some people just don’t have one thing that they love to do and also that they are good at it. Do whatever feels right for you because everyone is going to be different, have different life paths, experience differently, because we are all different.
So, allow yourself to just exist sometimes. Let yourself get bored and do nothing. Stop using the words ‘productive’ and ‘lazy’ that is just a social construct that needs to die already. It is okay to just experience and keep going. Because the only rule is - you cannot do life things wrong. Live on!!

(Preeti is a college student)