I am a college dropout.
There is a lot of social stigma attached to that title. People automatically think you're a loser who wasted time and money and who has no motivation. They believe you're lazy and didn't try hard enough.
However, I am a college dropout purely by choice, and I wear the label with pride. I realized that my mental health and well-being was more important right now than figuring out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And honestly, I don’t know what I want to do. I am at an age right now that allows me to do things like this freely. I have a great full time job, a roof over my head, and the rest of my life ahead of me. Why would I not take this chance? School will always be there, it isn’t going anywhere.
In high school, I thought I had an idea of what I wanted to do. It had always been something in the healthcare field. Or so I thought. I was scared; I wanted to make sure I was heading in the “right” direction. All my classmates had clear ideas of what they wanted to do and where they wanted to go. I wanted to make sure I was setting myself up for many opportunities and decent pay in something I thought I wanted to do. I found myself taking extra math and science courses, even though I hated them. And before I knew it, I was enrolled in college taking prerequisite classes for the radiography program. A year later I was in the EMT program and then the nursing program. And the year after that I was back to radiography. Big picture being, I had no idea what I wanted to do.
I don’t regret my choice; I only wish I had come to my senses sooner. Do I feel like I’ve wasted money? Yes. Do I feel like I took a bunch of pointless classes and wasted time? Yes. Did I ever think I’d be at this point? No. Do I think I’ll be happier taking time off and figuring out what I want to do later on? Yes.
The stigma that you have to have a set plan of what you want to do right out of high school is bullshit. You are 18 years old. There is no way that you are supposed to know what you want to do for the rest of your life. I quickly realized I needed to take responsibility for my own happiness. I was constantly stressed out worrying about if I was making the right choice or not and it weighed down on me. I didn't want to be unhappy forever. Life is too short to make such critical choices that will forever affect our futures.
So here is my advice to you–IT IS OKAY to drop out of school. College is hard. And it’s even harder when you don’t have any clue what you want to do. You're not giving up, you're moving on. You're exploring your options. You're testing your abilities. You're discovering the world on your own terms and you'll settle down when you're ready. If you realize after you've begun school that you're not in the right place, it’s okay. It's okay to switch programs, it's okay to drop out, it's okay to take a year or more off and it's okay to say it's not for you at all.
There shouldn't be one standard all people are held to once they finish high school. There shouldn't be a rulebook we have to observe when it comes to deciding our fates. Do what makes you happy, and be who you want to be. And, if you find you've taken a wrong turn, don't be afraid to make it right.