Nanami.x.Yuki
This is more aimed towards the 20-somethings. Are you guys happy with where what you have made of your life? Is it what you imagined?
I'm currently in college and I did not envision myself being where I am now. In highschool I was so confident and when I came to college I just fell down. I never knew what exactly I wanted to do with my life but I was simply confident I would be great...but I lost my motivation under the strain of having to pick a major and a specific career path and now I kinda dislike my major but it's too late to switch it w/o having to stay more than 4 years. I feel lost and like I'm setting myself up for failure but I'm trying to be pragmatic and stay where I am and pick a career that is practical. I am so scared of when I have to graduate in a year and face the real world.
I know exactly where you're coming from - I'm going to be graduating in a year as well, and it still seems surreal that I'll be out in the 'real world' in that short amount of time. I can say that I am very happy with where I am now, although how exactly I got to where I am today I wasn't expecting (went through a lot of s**t my first year at my college after I transferred, withdrew from the first quarter because of a super controlling/abusive relationship I was involved with, and ended up living back at home and doing my classes for the following 2 quarters) but I'm back on campus, with good professors, good roommates, and an awesome boyfriend now, and I know I'm a stronger person for having made it through all of that.
My advice to you would be this: don't panic about your degree! A degree is a degree, not a life-sentence to one career path/job. I'm at a wonderful art school now, and several of my classmates have transferred/are getting a new degree because they want a different job (some of them former computer-engineer majors now working on video games, lol). Do your best. If the 4-year limit is really hanging over your head (which it is for me too, because my mom said she'd help me out for my first 4 years of college, but after that I'd be on my own) then make the best of the major you're in now, network and make connections so that you can get a good job after you graduate, and you can always work on your actual passions in your down time, or persue them in getting another degree after you've worked a while in your current field. However, do not use the 'practical-ness' of your career as an excuse to not do something you enjoy. If I was really doing something completely 'practical' I would be working on an engineering degree - I'm great at math, and I enjoy science. However, I love and enjoy creating art, and now I'm working on getting a degree in Visual Effects, which lets me combine both.
Thinking of graduating is really scary, but you can do it! Remember, degree does not equal the end of your choices. It is only the beginning =)