I have a dream...but what is it?

What is my purpose in life? Where should my focus be? Am I even in the right field? Should I go back to school? Was I meant to be doing something else? What can I do that will make me feel fulfilled but also support me financially?

These are a questions I ask myself on an almost daily basis. I get told over and over again that I need to be more patient, and that things will happen when they’re supposed to. And while I understand I need to have more patience (as I currently possess none), I find this to be an incredibly frustrating piece of advice.

It seems like everybody always wants to be in their twenties. When your 18, you just want to be 21, and when you start to creep toward 25, you stop wishing you were older and start wishing time would just freeze right in that year so you didn’t have to be on the side closer to 30, and those 30+ wish they could say they were 29. But being in your twenties sucks.

When you’ve graduated high school or are in college, you have your entire life ahead of you. It’s an ocean of endless possibilities. You have big dreams, you don’t know where life might take you, and you’re ready for new adventures. You’ll likely experience a lot of transforming, personal development, and grow into the person you were meant to be.

But once you’ve graduated college and are out in the “real world,” you’re on your own. You’ve probably chosen a career path by now and have spent lots of money on a tuition to get you that piece of paper that is supposed to make you qualified to work in that industry. I was under the ridiculous notion when I was in high school, that college was a lot of hard work, but after I got that diploma things would be smooth sailing from there.

Ha ha.

Spoiler alert: it’s not like that. It continues to be a lot of hard work, in many different ways throughout the rest of your life. Wahoo, right?

Anyway, it hasn’t taken me (too) long to figure out that in order to achieve what you want out of life, you have to work your ass off, you have to stay consistent and determined to achieve your goal, you have to put in the effort, and you have to ignore all the people who think you can’t or won’t do it. There is no room for doubt. There is no room to care about what other people think or time to give to those detrimental to your goal. You need to figure out what you want, and you need to go for it with all you have.

So there was my life revelation: Figure out what you want to pour your heart and soul into and strive for it with a fiery passion.

Many successful people I admire have all started from the bottom, made a lot of mistakes, and faced a lot of rejection. But a major key to their success was breaking through those barriers and continuing to strive for their goal no matter what. It paid off, eventually.

And that is what I want to do with my life, how I would define being successful—to strive for my dream and a goal that I can happily pour my heart and soul into every day. But what is that dream I should strive for? I have a few different ideas of where I think I could focus on, but how do I know which? You can’t really get ahead by switching your focus all the time.

Hence, this very annoying mental block I have currently sitting in my brain of what it is I was meant to do with my life. Wouldn’t it be great if someone could point you in that direction and say, “This is what you’re supposed to be doing, will make you feel fulfilled, and will generate an income for you. This is your next step, go on ahead!” Is it just me, or is it super annoying that that’s not a thing?

I faced a fair amount of rejection lately, and as I am a believer in “everything happens for a reason,” I feel like life is pushing me in a certain direction…but I don’t know what that direction is. And then there’s that pesky problem of needing an income, but no one wanting to hire you because you don’t have enough experience (which seems to be a lot of years for entry-level positions these days).

And that’s why being in your twenties sucks. Because you want to have a purpose and do what you love, but you’re poor and either don’t know what it is yet that you want, or can’t afford it.

That being said, I've heard you're not supposed to have to have it all figured out when you're in your twenties. And it's not that I think I should have it all figured out (as much as that'd be nice), but I'd like to know I'm at least headed in the right direction. I mean, who wants to wake up one day feeling unfulfilled and out of time?

On a more positive note, it’s not all bad. I do have a lot of things to be grateful for. Every year, life seems to get a little better, I seem to enjoy and experience more things, despite all the curves that get thrown at me. I do have most of my life ahead of me still. I have learned to step back and appreciate much more of life than I have in the past. And I don't think I am completely alone with this particular mind battle.

Anyone else out there?