What Do YOU Want to Be When You Grow Up?

I’ve always heard stories about how people figured out what they wanted to do with their lives. Usually, they took a class or had a teacher that influenced them, and through that, they realized their true calling. For me, that hasn’t fully happened yet. In high school, I was always waiting for that moment to happen to me. That maybe I would take a class and realize this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. Well, that never happened.

I do have interests, but that does not mean I know what I want to do with my life or know what profession I want to pursue. It’s scary thinking about choosing something to do for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. In high school, I did figure out that I am deeply interested in psychology and that is the field I want to go into, but I don’t really know what I want to do with psychology; Whether that be a psychologist, a criminal psychologist, or a therapist. I really enjoyed the psychosocial classes I was involved in during high school. I enjoyed helping others and counseling them, but I’m not sure if that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Now that I’m in college I have had a lot more time to reflect on the classes I’ve taken in the past and I have taken the time to really think about what I want to do. I’ve definitely narrowed down my field of interest after taking some specific psychology-based classes in college. Last semester I took a psychology class pertaining to drugs and how they affect the human brain. I really enjoyed the class, and through this course, I found that I am interested in how drugs affect the brain and behavior of individuals. Seeing the effects that certain drugs have on people's brains and their behavior is incredibly interesting and that is definitely something I want to learn more about.

Another aspect of psychology that I’ve grown immense interest in is abnormal psychology. This is mostly studying mental disorders and learning about why people develop these disorders, whether that be through environmental factors or biological factors. I have yet to take a more focused course directly on abnormal psychology (which I will be taking soon) but I have briefly touched upon this category of psychology. For me, this is one of the most interesting aspects of psychology. There’s something special about going super deep into the science of why certain chemicals can make a normal person develop mental disorders that can cause incredible stress in their everyday lives.

The last aspect of psychology that I have gained interest in recently is criminology/criminal psychology. I know this is cheesy to say but I really like the show Criminal Minds, which is a show about profiling serial killers. What I really like about the show is that it uses psychology and behavior patterns to create profiles about who the killers are solely based on their behavior. I’m deeply interested in learning about why people become killers and what drives them to commit heinous murders. This past semester I picked up the Forensics and Criminality minor here at USC and as of now, I am really enjoying the classes that go along with this minor. I have been learning a lot more about criminology as well as the psychological side of crime.

I am still exploring my role in society and how I want to spend my time working in the future. What I want to do. What I want to be. Although I have not figured out exactly what I want to do with my life right now, I do know that I have the time and the ability to explore my interests in college. I don’t have to make a definitive decision on who I want to be or what I want to do in the future right now. I have interests that fuel my desire to learn more and I am still trying to figure out all of the fields of interest that I want in my life. As time goes on I know I will find more things that interest me and my only hope is that I am skilled enough to take all of my interests and intertwine them into a profession that best suits me.