food for thought
From day one we’re asked the familiar question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. It’s almost ingrained into our brains, and for most of us, it’s the reason we’re here. Although the answer differs from individual to individual, the ‘American dream’ follows a formulaic pattern for the most part. As we’ve talked about in class, most of us have been involved in several organizations for the majority of high school careers and the trend has only progressed since arriving at Mason. Yet, seldom asked is the question of WHO you want to be. I find this question much more challenging, yet, also, all the more significant.
We’ve talked about how figuring out our personal strengths and weaknesses in leadership are key catalysts for growing into the leaders we hope to become. However, in addition to these questions, in order to grow into the leaders that we each hope to be, I feel it’s of even greater importance to decipher who we are in terms of what we stand for, how we want the world to look, and how we hope to achieve it. As I’ve previously mentioned, being at Mason, away from all of my friends and family, has challenged me in ways that I have never been challenged before. With this being said, I feel that it’s important for each of us to consider these difficult questions and attempt to grasp at what they mean for each of us. Granted, some of you may have it all figured out. But for those of us who are just as conflicted as I am, I challenge you as I challenge myself to struggle through these difficult questions.
Although all of this is a process, and it may even be endless, through truly taking the time to reflect on one self and to determine one’s values, perceptions, and to formulate each of our own individual identities should hold precedence before we are immersing ourselves in the world in front of us.
November 27th, 2012 at 8:07 pm
You’re over thinking things,
I’ve never figured out “what I want to be when I grow up” because I don’t think it matters to think so linearly. There’s so many things to do that you don’t need to just pick one thing and stick with it. You can pick to choose everything.
Sometimes it’s good to reflect on your values, perceptions, etc, assess your strengths and weaknesses, but it’s a waste of time imo. Doing those sorts of things can limit what you do, because you’ll end up over thinking, be stressed, etc. And it’s all happening in your head only, not in real life.
Find something to do Cameron, don’t just waste time thinking/doing nothing or think that someone’s, or everyone is, going to give everything to you. Because no one will. If you want to find a partner that is happy, smart, successful, fit, etc, you have to be that kind of person already because they’re looking for the same kind of people.
I had the same problem as you, clueless about a direction to go, and it was all mental. I was lost and had no idea what to do, but awesomely I had typing skills to back me up, so I typed and wrote and typed and wrote all kinds of things, and eventually I figured it out and stopped caring. And stopped thinking too much. That was the only time I was the absolute least productive in life.