Finding the Way

Like many people my age, I am stuck in quite the sucky situation.

All my life, I was told, essentially, "If you go to college and get a degree, you can get a job!"  For as long as I can remember, it was hammered into my head that I was going to college, and to University straight out of high school.  This led to quite a few fights back in the day between my parents and I; I wasn't totally motivated, and all of my friends were going to Community College, so I wanted to as well!  My parents quickly squashed that idea.

I did well enough that I was able to go to my first choice University following graduation, and I will admit that I was much more motivated at that than high school.  In some ways, I think it had to do with the scheduling (the 6 hours straight of classes did not work for me), and also because, for the most part, I was studying things I actually had an interest in.  I did much better in college than in high school.

I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Theatre Arts in December, and since then I have been "in the real world".  Which is a heck of a lot different than I was led to believe. 

First of all, the only job I have been able to get is retail, which I am not a fan of.  The work is very boring, and not using my mind at all makes me depressed.  I want to feel like I went to college for a reason!  I need to be able to use my skills.

My plan had always been that I would go into teaching if I needed a back up plan, but California recently laid off over 2000 teachers.  Obviously that's not the way to go!  So now I'm stuck, not knowing where to go.  I know I need to get back to school, but I'm having trouble deciding what to study.  Should I go for teaching and hope that the state is in better condition once I finish?  Or go into business, something I have a bit of passion for but lack the background to go straight into an MBA program?  I am truly lost. 

For the most part, I am glad that I studied theatre, because it is my passion, and I was able to learn a lot from my time in school.  I am infinitely grateful for that experience.  But there's a part of me that wonders if I should have studied business.  I took one class (marketing) and found it quite interesting.  Randomly enough, I only took it because I needed an extra class and my roommate suggested that we take it together. 

I have many directions that I want to go in life.  There's a part of me (a big part actually) that loves performing more than anything, and wants to live out my dreams of performing in musicals.  There's a part of me that wants to create a lolita brand where I can create all the designs that I have bouncing around in my head.  There's a part of me that wants to be a costume designer and there's a part of me that wants to start a business of importing Japanese fashions to the US.  All of these are a bit out there and will probably never happen.  I feel a bit silly even still thinking about them. 

These days, everyone is struggling to find their way and I'm just one of millions.