What To Do When You Don't Want To Pursue Your Major After College

I'll start off this post by saying that this topic has been on my mind for a while now and it may end up as a bit of a jumble of thoughts. As many of you know, I'm a history major at Chapman University. Now let me also add that I was never the person who questioned what I would major in while I was deciding what school I would attend. I had always loved history, and in fact, I essentially had a 10 year plan that would end with me getting a PhD in American History and working at a Smithsonian museum. Anyone that knows me can tell you what a huge history nerd I am, and that I love spewing all of my favorite weird and hysterical facts and stories from history. However, last year I realized that there might be something that wasn't clicking anymore with my future ambitious plans. I realized there was a difference between a passion for learning, and a passion for doing. 

I have a huge passion for history. I love to learn all the interesting facts that other people might find boring, and I love knowing whats happened in the past to make us all who we are. But, I didn't love what I could do with history. I don't love research papers, I don't love giving historical presentations, and I just can't see myself entering that field anymore. I love going to museums, but I now know that I would much rather be wandering through one looking at the artifacts than trying to run the museum itself. 

Of course, in recognizing this I hit a bit of a wall. My first thought was that it's way too late to change my major, and I don't want to go back to school to learn something completely new. I thought I had wasted the last three years of college in something that I didn't want to pursue anymore and I was very lost and confused. I did however understand what direction I wanted to go in. 

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I've been blogging for two years now and I'm obsessed with it. I love taking e-courses in my spare time to help grow my blog, and I love understanding social media and marketing strategies. I have a passion for writing, blogging, and everything that comes with it. I don't mind taking the time to learn more about this potential field in my spare time because it doesn't feel like a chore. I get excited when I realize there are new ways to grow my business or expand my reach. I have the passion for it and the passion to do it. Although I'm a few years late on figuring out that I want to work somewhere in this industry, I know that all hope isn't lost for me.

Yes I've spent my years in college studying something that won't exactly guide me on my way to professional writing, blogging, PR, social media, etc. But, I'm still able to take control now and steer myself in the direction I'd like to go. History has given me the advantage of learning how to become a better writer (via the huge amount of papers I've had to write and my upcoming thesis...) as well as giving me a great deal of info on how to do better research on any topic. So I know I'm not completely starting from scratch. In my years of blogging I've self-taught myself a number of important things that I'm sure I would have learned if I had been taking classes in this field. So not only am I not starting from scratch, I actually have a pretty defined foothold in this career path. 

In an attempt to lead myself into this new direction I'm also trying to put more emphasis on my blog and make it as good as possible. I also applied to be an intern with an online blogging network (woohoo catch me in the fall as a Style Guru with College Fashionista!), and will be taking as many classes in public relations and social media marketing as I'm allowed. I'll also be searching for more ebooks, ecourses, and other information so I can stay afloat with the other soon to be college grads who actually studied this information for four years. 

I wanted to write this post because I know there are so many others like me who feel like they're stuck in a major and that they now are forced into a certain career path. I'm here to tell you that it's never too late to change your path and strive for what you really want. All you have to do is put forth some effort and work your way up to where you want to be.

As long as you are actively trying to figure out where you want to end up and are trying to take the steps to get there whether this be through experience, internships, jobs, more school, or something else, you'll be okay.

Anyone else feeling/felt this way?

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