Why Are You Here Today?

You took the standardized tests, received the awards, and graduated high school wearing your cap and gown with great pride as your loved ones watched in awe of the person you’d grown to be. During this time, you were in celebration mode and were swamped with the question: what are you going to do with the rest of your life? The answer to that question was always “I’m going to so-and-so college.” But why?

As kids, college always seemed as something that was expected directly after graduation. There was never the question of “if” we were going to college, but rather what college we chose to attend. Society gathered together with their mouths wide open for critique and with their eyes wide open to watch what our next move was going to be.

Maybe you’re just now a graduating high school senior with your mind open and your energy high and ready to begin this adventure. Maybe you’re a rising college senior thinking about what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. Or maybe you’re like me, a confused college junior.

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you’re here today? Why are you choosing to spend the next two to four years of your life in school? What is your purpose?

At this stage in your life, maybe you’re not thinking about WHY you’re doing it because you’re just doing what your parents are telling you that you need to do. That’s completely acceptable, everyone is different. What I encourage you to think about is, what about when you have to spread your wings and do it on your own? Then what?

As human beings, we do not do an action or become involved in something without some benefit to ourselves.

Maybe the benefit of choosing college is financial support from your parents or maybe it’s the eventual higher rates of success for yourself. Regardless, we keep this benefit we’ve chosen in our minds as we continue choosing to do the homework assignments, study, and move back into dorm life in the fall every year.

Without having that benefit in our minds, we are left without direction. Imagine for a moment that you are in college and you are struggling with the work, your social life, and you are wondering why you’re doing this at all. Without that purpose, in your mind, you have no real reason to keep trying at all. You could drop out and give up all of the work you’ve done thus far. Everything is thrown away.

I encourage you to find your purpose. Why do you wake up in the morning and go to that class you hate going to? Why do you spend thousands of dollars and go into debt for an education? Why are you doing what you’re doing?

Think about your purpose and use it as your guiding light to become the best “you” you can possibly be. Grow with it and there’s nothing you can’t do.