Major Decision Is Major Pain

Dear Dee:
I have a major problem! Literally. I can't decide on my major and I have very little time left to decide. you see, the counselors tell me I'm smart, my family wants me to get a degree, and I want to go to a university but I feel so overburdened by this decision that I can't even think straight.

Right now I'm a sophomore in a community college and I'm planning to transfer as a junior. I believe that this major decision would be much easier if my parents and family had advice for me because they had gone through the same thing.

I would be the first in my family to earn a degree, complete high school, and even elementary school. My grandparents are my adoptive parents and they barely managed to finish third grade. I feel lost and a bit helpless. What it comes down to is that I envy the conviction with which my peers decided what they wanted to do with their lives, whether it be a manicurist or a lawyer.

All I have is an appreciation and desire for knowledge and creativity but no clear conviction of what I want to do with my life.

Please help. I would cherish your advice.

This conviction you are speaking of comes at different times for everyone. Really!

Don't stress yourself out trying to figure out what to do with your life. Just live it! So many of us waste away trying to think of what to do next instead of enjoying what we have going for us. I honestly feel this is the case for you, too. You're so overwhelmed with the responsibility and burden you feel do to your position in your family, that you're not concentrating on all the amazing experiences, people and learning you have in your life! In fact, if you simply take a step back, you might find your major of choice is staring you right in the face.

So can you try to decompress and enjoy what you're studying, experiencing and living through RIGHT NOW? Cherish your family, revel in how proud they are of you and sure, ask their opinions on what they think you'd be great at studying. But don't count on them to make the decision for you. You are the one who has to live with the profession and the degree you choose. So take their advice for what it is -- council and suggestion ... not an edict, decree or law.

Oh and in case you were wondering ... there most definitely isn't a fortune to be made the world of advice columnists ... unless you love to help others ... which I most definitely love to do.