what happens if you can't discover what you truly like

<p>I will be going to college soon, but I don't really know what I am passionate about. I think I wanna go to med school, but my plan may not work out in the worst case. What happens to people who fail to find what they really like?</p>

<p>Neither do I! But I'm going to an LAC-type school so for the first two years I'll be taking all sorts of classes like Religion, History, English, Philosophy, Economics, Political Science, Chemistry, Psychology, etc.</p>

<p>At some point you just have to pick. Most people don't find something they really love in college... they just find something they have interest in, devote themselves, and learn to love it.</p>

<p>Yeah, what anovice said.</p>

<p>that's pretty unfortunate.
college is supposed to be the place where you don't have to learn to love anything, but learn what you love.
i hope i will find that i have a passion for something in college. thats a big part of why im excited to go...</p>

<p>Best advice I can give you: Take EVERYTHING. You don't have to decide right away. Take a little bit of every discipline--art, theater, English, chemistry, physics, history, philosophy, religion, biology, political science, business, EVERYTHING--and pick one later. I certainly plan to do the same.</p>

<p>The fact in life is that everyone will not be able to do what they love as a profession. Most people find a job that interests them and learns to like it and maybe even love it. Most people don't have the luxury to follow their true <em>loved</em> interests... there's nothing to say they can't be done on the side or even incorporated into whatever profession you decide on. </p>

<p>For me college = training for a profession. Some see this differently. If you decide to take a little bit of everything plan on being in college for five or more years for your undergraduate. If financially this is okay, by all means, explore yourself and have fun.</p>

<p>You sound like me!
I don't want to say how many times I changed my major, but it was a lot! It's taken me almost 3 years, but I finally discovered that I have a passion for photography and am a really good journalistic writer (even thought I don't like it!) , so I'm a photojournalism major. I hope to able to make a living doing studio and freelance photography.</p>

<p>The secret to finding what you want to do with your life? Try a bit of everything, take your time, don't focus on how much money you can make with a major and don't be afraid to change your mind and/or major!</p>

<p>Process of elimination.</p>

<p>If you didn't do well in something, that something is out.
If you don't see yourself in a profession, then that major is out. (esp true of business, engineering, etc)
If you slept through that class in high school, that major is out.</p>

<p>You'll be able to narrow it down to few majors.</p>

<p>lol, futurenyustudent!</p>

<p>That's a pretty good checklist. I'll have to remember it!</p>

<p>
[quote]
If you slept through that class in high school, that major is out.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Crap...there goes any major that has a direct relation to a highschool class.</p>

<p>Slept through due to boredom.
Not because it was easy.</p>

<p>well if you're bored with the subject, you probably shouldn't have a job in that subject..</p>

<p>This is a very good question, and I like futurenyustudent's approach. Anovice's answer is true.</p>

<p>I think I'll major in Anthropology/Sociology. I'm really interested in primitive societies, human interaction, biological explanations for human nature, social movements, and such. I've been studying topics like that for 7 years now, and I'd love to go more in-depth in college. I think I've found my life's passion (it's quite exciting). My interests might change in college though. My dream is to observe primitive societies in Africa, study gay animals in the Amazon Rainforest, experience life in rural China.</p>

<p>Well, I want to do something I'm good at, not necessarily something that is my passion. That way, I can get pleasure from succeeding, and make enough money to live comfortably. Also, I think that, depending on the person, sometimes if you take a hobby you really like, and translate it into a career, the hobby loses its spark, because it becomes "work". I thought for a long time about becoming a professional musician, but I couldn't see myself practicing 6 hours a day and playing gig after gig and having to endure the stress of recording, and then in the evening going to teach private lessons or something. The way that that life was so all consuming seemed like it would wear down on me. </p>

<p>So instead I decided I'd become a journalism major and maybe write for a jazz magazine or the entertainment section of a newspaper or something like that. I'm a great writer and it seems like something I would be good at, if not exactly something I have a "passion" for. </p>

<p>Deciding what you want to do is more multi-faceted for certain people than just finding a passion and running with it. I don't really know what I'm saying, haha. I guess I'm just throwing that out there.</p>

<p>I agree 100% with MissSuperFantastic's philosophy.</p>

<p>It is imperative that you do something you're good at (or at least decent at). No matter how much you love your job, it would be a complete waste if you were bad at it. For me, liking something is largely a consequence of the fact that I'm good at it.</p>

<p>I've also noted the whole 'hobby -> work = bad' dynamic throughout the course of my life. It's not always true, depending on the nature of the work, but most of the time it at least puts a damper on the passion you once had.</p>

<p>Just my 2 cents.</p>

<p>Try to find a pattern in what kinds of books you find most intriguing. My summer reading list, for example, consists of:</p>

<p>-The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (Friedman)
-The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (Gladwell)
-The Third Chimpanzee : The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (Diamond)
-Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (Diamond)
-Blink : The Power of Thinking Without Thinking (Gladwell)
-Crimes Against Logic (Whyte)
-Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (Levitt)</p>

<p>Browsing sections at the bookstore is part of how I arrived at my proposed major.</p>

<p>there was an interesting article a few years back about this; the article is at <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/online/13/ldrplus.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fastcompany.com/online/13/ldrplus.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This article recommends a different approach than MissSuperFantastic suggests. You've probably heard the other approach many times, encapsulated with expressions such as "follow your passion". Here is one quote
[quote]
Most people aren't using their talents. They didn't choose their career; their career chose them. They got into a line of work because they had to get a job, or somebody told them they'd be good at a job. They were young, they started down a certain path, and they never stopped to ask what their calling might be-not just their job, but their real calling. Then before they know it, they hit midlife, and they're asking themselves, "Why am I doing this? Why did I start down this path instead of following my real talents?".

[/quote]
</p>

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<p>You might want to take those career choice tests. My teacher's wife took that test in high school, (200 dollars worth) and never even looked at it because she thought it was stupid. She went through college 3 times majoring in different things because she didn't liek the ones she chose. She finally found something she liked (helping the mentally challanged children) and then when she went back and looked at her test like 20 years later, that was where she was supposed be. (in that field somewhere)</p>

<p>Then again, I know a gay wiccan guy (who smokes and smokes weed and drinks and what not) and it told him to be a rabbi. I don't know about you,but i would attend that synogogue (LOL)</p>