So often, we tell high school seniors that they need to identify their interests, take a couple career quizzes, and decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives at the ripe old age of 17. They’ve grown up, we say, and they need to choose what to do so that they can get a good job and move away.

This kind of thinking can feel incredibly limiting to kids and adults alike. People are complex, often interested in an array of activities and subjects. Committing to just one often feels frightening. And it should. At the beginning of my senior year, I, too, had to come to terms with this fear. I had a lot of passion for a lot of distinct interests – how was I supposed to pick just one? There was music, there was filmmaking, there was math. Reluctantly, I settled on filmmaking as my college major. I picked my college and graduated high school. I was happy with my choice of major, if a little unsure. Despite my love for film, I didn’t want to give up everything else that I had put so much time and effort into.

During the summer after my senior year, I began to realize that I, along with many other people my age, had been framing college in the wrong way. I was convinced that choosing any one major at seventeen sentenced me to a lifetime of studying and working exclusively in that subject. That isn’t how the real world works, though. Kids have plenty of time to explore their interests once enrolling in college; isn’t that what college is all about? As a matter of fact, isn’t that what life is all about? Exploring new things, trying new activities, being creative, analytical, risky?

Upon grasping this, I shifted my college mindset. I was still going to major in cinema studies, but I decided to add a math major as well. Not for a career-related reason. Simply to learn more math. That decision is a prime example of my advice on what to do when you want to do everything: do it! Do everything. Sure, maybe your college won’t be as flexible as mine on how many unrelated subjects you can focus on in your degree, but that shouldn’t stop you from learning them. Take a couple poetry classes, even if you’re a biochem major. Paint, if that’s what you like, if only for fifteen minutes every couple days. Picking a college major does not bind you to that subject, and that subject only, for life. 

Time also shouldn’t be a restraint, especially in college. People often say things like “you can always find fifteen free minutes in your day,” or “if you wanted to do something you’d make time for it”, and maybe statements like that seem presumptuous to you, or just untrue. That’s fair; maybe they are untrue for you, in the way that you live right now. Try putting aside just a few minutes of thinking time on a weekend, sometime when you truly have nothing more pressing. Figure out how you can work just one activity that interests you into your schedule. Is there a meeting you can move to a Tuesday and clear Monday? Could your morning be a little more open if you did your laundry in the evening? I promise you can find an open slot, if you do a little brainstorming. Once you have that slot, schedule yourself something to do, and stick to your schedule. Over time, you can build up more activities in the same way, and before you know it your life will be bursting with variety and (hopefully) fun!

I can’t tell you if you’ll be happy with the major you pick, or what career you’ll end up in. I can’t tell you if you’ll like the school you pick either. But I can tell you that the decisions you make your senior year will not define your entire life. If you want to do everything, don’t let anything stop you. Do it all, in as big or small doses as you feel you need. Your life will feel fuller because of it.

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